Fact and Folklore
by x-lady-lestat-x
Summary: Early season. When one of his good deeds backfires, Daniel is infected with parasites that give him vampire like superpowers along with dark impulses that threaten his sanity. When the NID gets involved, is all hope for a cure lost? Desperate for reviews!
1. Vampires?

**If you read parts 1-5 before June 8, 2008, please go back and have a re-read. I explain more about how the newly infected are ranked and it might come into play later. Thanks! Oh, and have a look at the Poll I posted on my profile. It will effect part 7.**

Part 1: Vampires?

--

The city seemed entirely abandoned despite the clear, sunny day. The Stargate was in a spacious park. The gate was positioned to face a distant grove of trees. To the team's right was the path leading to a small city; to the left was the path towards larger, single-residence homes. The team headed towards the town.

Col. Jack O'Neill and Teal'c led the party down the street with Dr. Daniel Jackson and Capt. Sam Carter looking around. Outside of the park, the buildings lining the narrow, treeless street were plain-looking, practically windowless, two-story row houses.

They could all hear recorded sounds coming from the insides of the houses. Some of the noises were music, others seemed to be radio announcers or television-style entertainment shows.

"There's nothing wrong with the atmosphere or the air, so I wonder why no one's outside," Sam said. "Admittedly, the UV rating for today could easily be at a harmful level during certain hours, but right now it's fairly mild."

"I hope their reluctance to venture outside is not due to an infestation of large insects," Teal'c said, tightening his grip on the staff-weapon as they continued down the street.

There was a large building at the end of the street. It had pillars out front, and was four stories tall with bars on the basement and ground-floor windows. It was the tallest building in sight.

"That looks like it's probably town hall," O'Neill said, nodding towards the building.

A scream came from one of the homes they were passing. They were sure it wasn't any sort of recording.

The team stopped and looked towards the building.

"Jack...?" Daniel started to ask.

O'Neill nodded.

The team positioned themselves on either side of the door of the house where the scream had come from, their weapons ready.

"Please, don't!" a small, shrill voice begged.

O'Neill knocked on the door. "Everything all right in there?"

Another scream came from inside, this time it was muffled by something.

"We're here to help," Daniel called.

They could all still hear the frightened, muffled sobbing.

"No assistance is needed," hissed a woman's voice in an angry tone as the girl's muffled screams continued.

"Jack, we have to do something," Daniel whispered urgently.

O'Neill sighed. "We're coming inside," he called towards the door. He tried the door. It was unlocked.

A door swung open, they heard someone running and then all that remained was a quiet sobbing.

"Hello?" he called into the darkness.

No lights were on in the house. The only window was in the rear of the building, and it was covered securely with thick curtains.

The light flooded down the hall, past the small kitchen, and into the living room.

Sam and O'Neill flipped on the lights that were mounted to their guns, and Daniel pulled out a flashlight, shining it into the dark.

In the living room they found the small girl, tied tightly to a wooden chair.

Daniel rushed past Sam and O'Neill, and started untie her. "You're going to be OK."

The girl began to calm down, her cheeks stained with tears and dust.

Sam and O'Neill shone their lights throughout the room when, out of nowhere, a woman's hand reached forward and grabbed Daniel by the shirt collar, dragging him with her into the dark corner.

The little girl screamed again, her breath held in shock as she saw her would-be savior dragged back by the monster.

Sam and O'Neill aimed their weapons and lights at the corner.

The woman was pale with long black hair and black clothing. Her fingernails were long and sharp. She held Daniel in place now with one clawed-hand around his throat. As her attention darted between the three intruders, her eyes caught the light and reflected like two shiny gold coins.

"What are you doing in my house?" the pale woman demanded.

As she spoke the team could see her pointed teeth pressing against her lips.

"The better question is why you have a kid tied up in your living room," O'Neill replied.

The woman looked even angrier. "I have the permit posted on my door--in case you hadn't noticed--so you have no right to be in here."

"We're travelers and…" Daniel began to say, but the woman looked at him and tightened her grip so he couldn't say anything else. He placed his hand on her wrist very lightly, hoping the gesture would tell her she was holding on too tightly for him to breathe.

"Permit?" Sam asked. "To do what? Torture a child?"

"She is a criminal," the woman assured quickly. "_Your _criminals are given to _us_."

"What was her crime?" Teal'c asked.

The woman glared at them again. "You are trespassing." She smiled, her teeth looking very sharp in the light of their flashlights. "It may be within my rights to do whatever I wish with you as well." She tightened her grip and her claws dug in a little deeper.

"Let our friend go," O'Neill began coolly, "and we can straighten this out with the people who run your town."

"Where we come from if anyone screams for help people are allowed to enter a building," Sam added, trying to justify their intrusion.

Daniel made a move to get away, grabbing onto the woman's hand and pulling it from his throat as he darted away.

The woman, however, leaned forward quickly and tried to recapture him. Her claws caught his hand and shredded the skin as she gained a more secure hold.

O'Neill pulled the trigger, firing a single shot into her outstretched arm.

She refused to let go. The woman's blood oozed down her arm and onto Daniel.

Teal'c fired his Zat gun, stunning both her and Daniel.

The woman hit the floor, unconscious, and Daniel hit the rug beside the girl, crippled by the electricity.

Teal'c kept his aim on the woman as Sam and O'Neill rushed forward and dragged Daniel a few paces farther from the woman. Sam crouched by Daniel while O'Neill straightened and re-aimed his weapon.

Daniel readjusted his glasses, his hands shaking a little.

"You all right?" O'Neill asked Daniel casually.

Daniel nodded a little. "I don't think she was going to let us just walk out of here with the girl." The reality of his bloody injury finally struck him and he started putting pressure on his hand.

Sam nodded, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You did the right thing."

Daniel looked to the girl, and Sam helped him sit up to face the child. "My name's Daniel. Are you alright?"

The girl recoiled from him, almost thrashing as much as she must have been against the woman. "No, don't _touch _me!"

Daniel was shocked.

"It's OK, he's trying to help you," Sam insisted kindly, her focus, like Jack's was more on the woman.

"Anyone but him," the girl whimpered.

Daniel was even more confused. He'd just ended up as a hostage because he was trying to free her from the ropes, and now she didn't even want his help. He stood and backed away from her towards the exit, his hand still keeping pressure on the stinging, bloody scratches. "I-I guess I'll wait over there," he said reluctantly, joining Teal'c near what appeared to be the kitchen.

The girl started to calm down immediately.

"I will treat your injury," Teal'c volunteered, removing a package of bandages and disinfectant from the lower locket of his vest.

Jack continued to point his weapon at the woman and gave a nod to Sam.

Sam crawled over and started to untie the girl. The ropes were knotted more tightly than she'd originally thought. "Can you tell me your name? I'm Samantha, but you can just call me Sam, if you'd like."

The girl was quiet, thinking of nothing else but her own release.

"Can you tell us why you are so scared of Daniel?" Sam continued, finally freeing her hands and moving onto her the tightly bound legs.

She still didn't answer.

Teal'c put the bloody cloth into a plastic baggie and began to wrap the hand in the cloth bandage.

Sam was finally a little annoyed with the ropes. She let go of the ropes and started to dig into the pocket of her vest. "The knots are pulled too tightly." She found the pocketknife and pulled out the blade. "Don't be afraid I'm going to just cut the ropes."

The girl nodded a little, still very shaken.

Sam cut the bindings and before she could say another word, the girl slipped from the seat and shot out of the door.

Sam and Jack rushed after her and Teal'c tucked in the last of the bandage before he and Daniel followed.

The girl was already at the end of the street, turning the corner.

SG-1 didn't chase her.

"Is it just me, or are all the people around here just a little _strange_?" Jack asked the group with a hint of frustration.

Daniel shut the woman's door as he stepped off the porch. "If these people don't like to come out of their houses during the day, maybe we should go to the town hall and explain what happened before the sun sets and we have a whole _city_ full of people who think we're criminals," he suggested.

Sam nodded a little in agreement as she glanced at her watch. "According to our calculations, the second sun should be setting in the next hour. Leaving now might make it look like we actually _are_ guilty of something."

"I agree," Teal'c said simply.

"Sure," Jack said casually, setting out towards the building. "What's the worst that could happen?"

The others followed.

--

Jack, Teal'c and Sam all began to wake up. They were lying on the stone floor, all three inside the same prison cell. Their weapons and vests had been taken.

"Sir?" Sam asked nervously as she sat up.

Jack pushed himself upright and gave a small shrug. He looked at Teal'c. "Do you know what happened?"

Teal'c sat up. "We entered through the front doors of the town's administrative building. I do not recall how we came to be prisoners."

"Daniel?" Jack called, looking through the bars at the other empty cells in an attempt to find Daniel.

"He's not here, Sir," Sam pointed out.

The room they were in was fairly small, just large enough for three separate cells along one wall and separated by thick metal bars. Each cell seemed designed to hold up to four prisoners. Directly in front of the center cell was a door leading out of the holding area; it had a single small window covered in heavy glass. Each cell was equipped with some sort of an electronic lock, but only the cell holding SG1 was fitted with a single, barred window just large enough to fit an arm through. There were no overhead lamps so the only source of light was the shaft of electric light coming through the tiny window from the building across the street.

Jack pressed a button on his watch so it would light up, and he gave a heavy sign. "We've been out almost 12 hours."

Sam looked shocked, but Teal'c was unphased. "Indeed," he replied simply.

They all made their way to their feet.

Jack walked over to the locked door to examine the lock. "Carter? Do you think you can get us out of here?"

Sam checked her pockets for her tiny flashlight, but it was gone along with the rest of her gear. "It might be a little too dark for me to do much but..." Sam went to the door, but the door leading outside opened and they all froze, hoping that the newcomer hadn't heard their discussion of escape.

A red-haired man escorted Daniel into the center cell, a small amount of light coming into their dark room as the door opened.

"Daniel," Jack called, standing as they all went to the bars. "What happened?" His glasses were missing, and he looked almost as pale as the guard.

The man placed his palm on the black locking mechanism and the cell let out a loud click, swinging open. He stepped aside and gestured into the cell.

Daniel walked inside and sat down heavily on the bench inside, his eyes fixed on the floor in a daze. He was exhausted and felt a little dizzy.

The guard shut the door, pressed his hand on the lock again, and it made the same sound as it relocked. He ignored the others and spoke to Daniel. "The first sun will be up soon. When it sets we will bring you a meal." He looked at the others. "At the setting of the second sun you will all be evaluated. By dawn of our first sun tomorrow you will all be informed of your status."

"What is that supposed to mean?" O'Neill asked the guard.

"You will either be found innocent and released, or found guilty and sold to one of my countrymen for your crimes." He nodded towards Daniel. "He will be given a rank based on his skills and abilities. He will then either be made a citizen, or he will be put to death."

"Why is Daniel's crime different from ours?" Sam demanded. "And what _is_ our crime?"

The guard didn't answer.

"We need to talk to your superiors," Jack said finally. "This has just been a misunderstanding. We're not exactly from around here."

The guard was quiet for a moment, as if lost in thoughts of his own, and finally repeated what he had already said. "By dawn of our first sun tomorrow you will all be informed of your status." He turned around and left. They heard another electronic click and the door to the holding area locked, leaving the room in almost complete darkness.

"They aren't telling us anything," Sam said in a frustrated voice as she hit the bar with her hands. "And it sounds like they're not going to listen to anything we're telling them."

Daniel sat quietly.

"Daniel Jackson, are you not well?" Teal'c asked from the bench supplied to the group's cell.

"No, Teal'c I'm actually not well at all," Daniel said quietly, his head still bowed as he stared at the floor.

"_What happened?_" O'Neill asked again.

He looked up, his eyes catching a shaft of light and his pupils glinting gold the way a cat's or a dog's do when exposed to light in dim conditions. His eyes looked the same as the strange woman's had.

"S-So you're one of _them_?" Jack asked. "Whatever they are..." he added.

Daniel nodded a little. "That's what their doctors think, too. When you shot that woman, her blood infected me with something."

The others were quiet, waiting for any other sort of explanation.

"They haven't exactly told me anything but from what I've been able to learn _this_ is not airborne or transmitted just by contact," Daniel assured, a little more strongly. "It's in the blood and the saliva, but has to enter someone' blood to change them."

"Did you figure out why that woman had the kid tied to a chair?" Sam asked him.

Daniel nodded a little, giving a nervous laugh.

Even in the dark they could see the points that had formed on the tips of his canine teeth.

"I think they're vampires," Daniel admitted. He gestured towards himself, giving another nervous laugh when he touched his own jacket with a shaking hand. "I-I think I've been turned into a vampire." His laugh turned into a sob and he brought his hands over his eyes and face. "This isn't exactly something a person can bounce back from."

"Don't be silly," Jack said happily. "One little trip to Ole Doc Fraiser and you'll be right as rain."

"They don't know a way to stop it or reverse it, or they'd have given it to me," Daniel corrected.

Jack still seemed hopeful, but Sam and Teal's seemed a little less convinced.

"Am I right to believe that a _vampire_ is the creature from the black and white films you have shown me?" Teal'c asked.

Sam nodded.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

"When I woke up they had me in a hospital room and were doing blood tests or something. They said that tonight they're going to _rank and evaluate_ me," he reminded as he took his hands away from his face, evidently calming down a little. "What they mean is they want to see if I can do any of that stuff like the vampires from the movies and legends: super strength or speed, move things with my mind, read thoughts, or make people see things... They're not even sure what _abilities_ someone is going to have until they're evaluated," Daniel explained. "If they decide I was a smart enough as a normal person, and I can do enough of those weird things, they'll give me a higher rank." He sounded a little panicky again as he continued. "And then they want to make sure I'll kill someone to stay alive."

"You mean by _drinking their blood_?" Sam asked to clarify. "Like in the horror movies?"

He nodded, licking his dry lips a little. "Since they don't have a cure they have some sort of law about people who have been bitten. It's along the lines of someone's sense of morality being able to accept the laws of nature. Everyone who's been changed has to prove that they're willing to kill anyone they bite so they don't overpopulate the world with _us_." He sighed. "It's become an important part of their culture," he added a little more calmly.

"Way to keep things in perspective," Jack said.

Daniel ignored him and continued. "If I did kill the person, and my _rank_ is high enough, they'll let me go."

"And if you don't pass their little tests they'll kill you?" Jack asked.

Daniel nodded. "They'll tie me to the ground in a place behind this building, and when the second sun rises the light will be strong enough to burn me to death. Basically, they'll burn me alive for something I didn't have anything to do with."

"With both suns up the temperature is almost the same as Earth," Sam assured. "Our readings didn't show that the sunlight from either sun was powerful enough to burn a human to death."

"Not human," Daniel reminded. "Vampire."

"Right," Sam said distantly. "So that part about burning in the sunlight is actually true?"

Daniel nodded a little. "It must be."

"But why a death sentence?" Jack asked.

"Their planet is mostly made up of humans, but right now we're on an island continent made up of these people. The criminals of the rest of the planet are sent to this island. It's sort of like what the British did with Australia when..."

"Daniel," Jack scolded before he could say much more.

"Right," Daniel agreed, realizing how off track he'd almost become. "The vampires have complete control over the island's government, and pretty much assume that the only humans in this country are just criminals or escaped slaves. All the criminals are sold to the citizens _as_ slaves. They can actually do anything they want to their slaves," Daniel said in amazement. "With the right paperwork they can even kill them. That's why the woman kept saying she was allowed to have the girl."

"And that is what they plan on doing with us?" Teal'c asked, finally a note of passion in his voice. He'd been a slave for most of his life, and was not intending to be enslaved again.

"Yep," Daniel said simply. "And if a _citizen_ wants to infect a human, criminal or otherwise, they have to get a license. If a person is changed without being licensed, both the person and the one who infected them are put to death. They don't want the ratio of humans-to-vampires to be too high for fear that _all_ life on the planet may end."

"So that's why _you're_ in hot water," Sam finished.

Daniel nodded as his eyes shifted to the small, barred window above Teal'c. "Bringing us back around to the little test they want to put me through tonight. The first sun is going to be up in a little while, so I'm going to wait until then before trying to open the door."

"How?" Jack asked.

He didn't answer right away. "If I do have any _abilities_, maybe one of them can get us out of here. I don't know how drained I'll be after tapping into it, so I'm not going to try anything until we have a clear shot to the gate," Daniel explained. "By the time the _first _sun rises everyone, even the guards, should be out of here and at their homes. When the second one comes up everyone in the whole town is probably going to be asleep."

"How do you know?" O'Neill asked suspiciously. "And didn't you say they never told you anything?"

Daniel smiled a little, nervously. "It was the guard. Even before you asked him the questions he was showing me all of the answers."

"And what is _that_ supposed to mean?" O'Neill asked again, just as he had asked the guard a few minutes earlier.

"I think I could read his mind," Daniel admitted. "Or maybe _he_ was the one who was projecting that stuff into _my _head."

Everyone was a little shocked.

"Telepathy?" Teal'c asked. "Well, I am still pleased that there were no large insects."

"Amen to that," Jack and Daniel said at the same time, looking at eachother as if to wonder whether Daniel had read his mind or whether he and Jack simply agreed.

--

The building had been much quieter over the last thirty minutes. It seemed that Daniel had been right. Now that the second sun was rising, there didn't seem to be anyone else in the building.

Daniel finally stood. He'd been saving his energy since the first sun rose so he could try to use some kind of ability to open the door. He stumbled a little as he walked towards the front of the cell. He was a light-headed, almost the way he used to feel in Abydos when he'd forgotten to drink enough water.

"Still doin' ok?" O'Neill asked from the floor of the shared cell beside Daniel's. His hat was over his eyes as he rested, but he'd heard the slight shuffling noise.

"Peachy," he lied. Holding his hand over the lock he tried concentrating on several different goals to see if he possessed any other useful ability. _Maybe I can just make things move if I think hard enough... _"I don't even know where to start," he confessed quietly.

"Is the second sun up now?" Sam asked, brushing off her pants as she stood and went to the window to look outside.

"Yep," Daniel answered simply, still concentrating hard on unlocking the door somehow.

"It's pretty overcast out there," Sam commented.

"What is it that you are attempting to do, DanielJackson," Teal'c asked.

Just then Daniel felt a small spark of energy running through his hand and into the lock. The door beeped and unlatched.

Teal'c and O'Neill got to their feet.

"Nice job Danny-Boy," O'Neill praised at a loud whisper as he jumped to his feet.

"Now I just have to figure out how to do that two more times," Daniel caught his balance on the door as he almost fell again.

"Take it easy," Sam said calmly, turning back to Daniel. "We're not in any rush yet, so take your time."

He nodded and stopped to rest.

"How'd you do that?" Sam asked.

"No clue," Daniel admitted as he followed the bars to the other door and put his hand against the lock. He felt the electricity surge through his hand, and the door immediately beeped as the lock was thrown.

Sam, Teal'c, and O'Neill quickly left the cell.

"Any intel on where they left our gear?" O'Neill asked.

Daniel was still balancing against the bars, hesitant to let go of them to unlock the final electronically sealed door that would get them out of the holding area.

Sam peered through the small window, seeing a deserted entryway with a desk and another door leading outside. She ducked down again quickly in case there were any other security people wandering. "It looks like they were examining our equipment, but most of it seems to be on a desk just outside this door," she announced quietly.

"Do you need assistance, DanielJackson?" Teal'c asked, offering his hand to his friend.

Daniel accepted the extra balance until he reached the wall with the keypad. He let got of Teal'c and used the wall to balance. Just as he'd done a moment ago, he placed his hand on the lock and gave it a zap. It beeped before releasing the lock. Daniel shook his hand a few times and stretched his fingers. For a few seconds his fingers seemed to have gone numb from whatever electricity had just been sent through them.

Jack raised a finger to his lips, and motioned for them to rest against the wall. He slowly pushed the door open.

"There's noone out there," Daniel assured. He tilted his head a little, listening. "But they're on their way from about four floors down. We have to go right now," he said with more urgency.

Jack led them through the door first, and everyone grabbed their gear.

Daniel slipped on his heavy jacket and started to unfold the hood hidden in the collar.

"What are you doing that for? Just grab the rest of your gear so we can get out of here," Jack said, hurriedly putting the nick-knacks where they were supposed to go.

"Vampires," Daniel said simply, still unraveling the hood.

"Point being?" Jack said, slipping the strap of his gun over his shoulder. He was ready, but Daniel was slowing their progress.

"Sunlight, sir," Sam said with a note of surprise in her voice, almost as though it hadn't occurred to her either. "Since it seems he _has_ been changed into one of these... um... _people_ he'll need to cover up before going outside."

Daniel pulled the hood over his head and grabbed the sunglasses from the pocket.

"Right," Jack said as distantly as Sam had when the topic of vampires and sunlight had been brought up earlier. He reached in the bag and dug out the gloves, handing them to Daniel as he secured the bag and helped Daniel slip the pack onto his back.

Daniel slipped on the gloves. "I'll need a little help seeing where I'm going," he admitted nervously as they all headed towards the exit. He knew they had to leave, but the idea of sprinting through a sunny street when the light could potentially seer the skin from his bones was more than a little unnerving.

"I will lead you safely you the Stargate, DanielJackson," Teal'c said as they jogged down a hall towards the sunlight that was coming through the windows of a barred door.

When they burst through the doors into the light Daniel called out in pain, pulling his hood even lower with one hand, and holding out the other as he kept running.

Teal'c grabbed him by the outstretched forearm. "It is not very far," he assured with a as comfortingly as he could in the time of urgency.

The four of them ran as fast as they could manage towards the park where the Stargate was located.

They heard some distant shouts from the building they'd just left as they made it around the corner. The gate was in sight.

"I'm dialing," Sam called from the distant lead, quickly punching in the symbols as the others caught up.

Teal'c let go of Daniel by the DHD as he and Jack looked back the way they'd come to make sure they hadn't been followed. Daniel was doubled over, trying to catch his breath and keep the light off of his skin. He was almost too dizzy to stand up straight again.

The Stargate opened and Sam dialed the security code into her wrist device to open the iris on the other side. "Ready," Sam called, turning to her friends.

Daniel fell to his knees, his muscles finally giving out. With every heartbeat the black splotches in front of his eyes were blocking out what little he could see in the overexposed world.

"Not so fast, Daniel," Jack called as he and Teal'c both got him to his feet by either arm.

Teal'c put one of his arms under Daniel's shoulders to brace him as they headed up the stairs to the gate.

Three heavily-covered townspeople came around the bend in the street just as the team stepped through the wormhole and disappeared.

--

Sam appeared on the platform first, followed by Jack and Teal'c bracing the now-unconscious Daniel.

"We need Dr Fraiser down here," Jack called to the control room.

General Hammond called for the medics over the intercom before coming down to the gate-room.

Teal'c lowered Daniel to the floor and peeled away the hood and dark glasses.

One of Daniel's cheeks was almost burned black, as if he'd been burned by a fire. Quite a bit of his jaw line also had a peeling red burn across it where the hood couldn't protect him from the sunlight occasionally filtering through the clouds.

"What happened to Dr. Jackson?" the General demanded as the gate room door opened and he and the medical team came through.

"Let's just say he needs a blood transfusion as soon as possible," Jack answered seriously towards the doctors.

Doctor Janet Fraiser and the nurses gathered around Daniel and put him onto a gurney.

"You should probably put him into quarantine and watch out for his teeth," Jack added, turning back to the General. "We've landed on planets where our team has been turned into cavemen, incubators for gigantic bugs, and now we seem to have opened the gate to a place with vampires."

"Vampires?" the General asked.

--

Briefing room

Daniel was still unconscious and in the quarantine area. Sam and Jack had just finished explaining the situation to General Hammond and Dr. Fraiser in the briefing room. Teal'c sat at the table only having occasionally added relevant information.

"...And that's when we stepped through the Gate," Sam finished.

"Vampires?" the General asked one more time, still in shock despite all of the information the team had gathered on the situation.

"What they've described seems to be consistent with the results of Daniel's blood work," Dr. Fraiser agreed. "He's been infected by some sort of parasite that's just smaller than a red blood cell. It's like malaria, but instead of entering and just destroying the red blood cell, they enter and _consume_ the cells."

"So that's what's making him anemic?" Sam asked.

Janet nodded. "The parasites don't impair red blood cell production but there are so many that the body can't keep up with the need. On top of that the parasite is extremely photosensitive. When it's exposed to ultraviolet light, it combusts and destroys most of the surrounding tissue."

"Did you figure out how it's transmitted?" General Hammond asked her.

"There are heavier concentrations of the parasite in the mouth, eyes, and digestive system, but they're located throughout his blood. Daniel was right when he told his team that it's not airborne and not transmitted by regular physical contact. It needs to somehow enter a person's bloodstream. In the four hours since the team has returned, Daniel's fingernails have actually grown about a quarter of an inch, however, I don't think this can be transmitted by a scratch."

The doctor finally got up and typed a few things on the computer so a diagram of the digestive system popped up on the screen. "Because of where the parasites are, it makes sense that ingesting the blood would be the best source of relief for the afflicted person. These parasites have completely shut down his normal digestion. When the parasite consumes the blood, the waste it secrets is everything the human body needs to function. People infected with this parasite don't need food, and would probably get sick if they tried to eat anything. We won't know for sure until he wakes up, but I think he may still need to keep drinking water so his usual production of blood wouldn't be impaired. The parasites also secrete several stimulants that will give the person a boost of energy and feeling of euphoria."

"Like a drug?" Sam asked.

The doctor nodded. "That's how the parasite keeps its host motivated to actually _drink_ the blood rather than solely rely on transfusions: the fix is faster when more of the parasites are fed at once."

"What's with the teeth and eyes? And the claws, for that matter?" Jack asked. "It's all this parasite right, and not like his DNA's being rewritten? 'Cuse you know how much I hate it when that happens."

She pressed another key on the computer and a generic photograph of a mouth showed up on the screen. "It's all due to the parasite. In the mouth the parasite is cleaning the teeth, removing harmful bacteria, and repairing damage. It's sharpened the teeth by moving the foreign particles and the natural minerals in his saliva to the very tips of the canines."

She pressed another button. A cross-section diagram of an eye came onto the screen.

"Because they are parasites that live in the dark, and need a host that's adapted for functioning in low-light conditions, some of them have gathered near the retina." She pointed towards the retina on the diagram. "The parasites themselves are so sensitive to light that they expect the host to remain in as little light as possible. Long story short, they reflect and magnify any light they're exposed to so theoretically his night-vision should be better than 20/20 even in pitch black conditions. Because of this effect, when lights are shone in the host's eyes, the eyes magnify it and seem to shine it back. The only thing I can compare it to is how the eyes of nocturnal animals react."

Another diagram of an eye popped up on the screen.

She pointed towards the iris. "Even though he's still unconscious I can tell that it's also affected the way his eyes will focus. The parasites are acting like a contact lenses so Daniel doesn't need his glasses. As far as I can tell, his eyes can focus more precisely than anyone I've ever examined."

"Bottom line, Doctor," the General began. "_Can you cure him?_"

"Under the microscope the parasite itself is vulnerable to all levels of ultraviolet light, but since Daniel's last blood test shows that over 60 percent of his blood has the parasite attached to it any sort of UV procedure would probably kill him. From the tests we've run in the lab, none of the standard medications seem to effectively destroy the organism."

"And the not-so-standard-ones?" Jack asked.

Dr. Fraiser sighed. "There are hundreds of medications designed to interfere with the activities of a parasite. We've only scratched the surface. I still can't explain how he generated the electrical charge from his hands, and we can't really assess any other changes until he's stronger and, more importantly, awake."

--


	2. PX5332

**If you read parts 1-5 before June 8, 2008, please go back and have a re-read. I explain more about how the newly infected are ranked and it might come into play later. Thanks! Oh, and have a look at the Poll I posted on my profile. It will effect part 7.**

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Part 2: PX5332

--

Daniel opened his eyes. The room was spinning a little, and his eyes were stinging from the bright lights of the room. He was laying in one of the isolation rooms. He could feel his arm being pinched by a needle so his eyes shifted to the bedside. There were a couple different tubes running into his arm: one clear and the other with blood. The monitor beeped every few seconds in unison with his heart.

The woman writing notes on a clipboard gasped a little when she saw his clawed-hand move up to rub his eyes. She was wearing a hazmat suit. "Doctor Fraiser?" the female nurse called to the observation window located about a floor above the room itself. "Doctor Fraiser," she called again quickly.

The doctor spoke into the microphone near the monitor. "I'll be right down." She went to the phone by the door and dialed a few numbers. "General? Daniel's awake. Can you let the rest of SG1 know?"

"Is everyone else ok?" Daniel mumbled to the nurse in a weak voice as his attention shifted to the length of his fingernails. Blinking a few times to assure that he wasn't imagining it, he felt the sharp edges with his thumb.

The door opened behind him and sprayed the new-comer with some sort of disinfectant.

Daniel laid his hand back on the bed. His lips were dry and his pointed teeth were getting caught up in his mouth.

"Daniel? How are you feeling?" Dr. Fraiser asked him as she approached his bed. She, like the nurse, was wearing a hazmat suit.

"It's a little bright," he said quietly.

Dr. Fraiser turned to the nurse who'd called to her. "Cindy, can you lower the lights a little please?"

She nodded and went to adjust the lighting.

One of the two lights above him went out.

"Better?"

Daniel nodded. "What actually happened to me?" His touched the place on his chin that had been burned the worst, but the skin was smooth and healthy. "Wasn't I burned?"

This time Dr. Fraiser nodded. "That's the interesting part. You've been infected by a parasite that seems able to adapt the infected host. It feeds off of red blood cells, so it's been busy adapting your body to make it easier for you to acquire the blood transfusions. The parasite is extremely photosensitive, so you were burned while escaping from the planet."

Daniel was starting to remember the things the guard, Breck, had shown him. "Every host reacts to the parasite differently…" he said distantly.

General Hammond, Jack, Sam, and Teal'c all filed into the observation room where Janet had been receiving reports.

"... So every host develops different abilities," Daniel continued calmly. He looked at Janet as she checked his monitors. "Everyone who's been infected gets pointed teeth, burns in the light, can see in the dark, heal fast, and has more strength and speed than normal people."

"Is that more of what the guard was telling you?" Jack asked over the intercom.

"Yes," he said simply. "But I think that I might have been picking up other things from the people in their little hospital, not just the guard in the jail."

"Telepathically?" Sam asked skeptically over the intercom. "We didn't really talk too much about it at the jail, but..."

"I'd think it was crazy too, but it can't be that far from the truth since I actually managed to zap that lock with just my hands."

"Do you know of any cure to the parasite?" Dr. Fraser asked him.

"I-I don't think they have one," Daniel answered.

_The NID will be even more interested in this thing when there's no cure. They're bound to find a way of turnin' this into a weapon_, the General though.

"They'd still want it even if there was a cure," Daniel said absently, still trying to remember anything Breck might have said to him and the little murmuring he'd heard before that.

"Danny, who would still want it?" the Jack asked, confused.

Daniel looked up at the two way mirror. "Like the General said, the NID will make this into a weapon, but even with a cure they'd still want to use this. When they find out they can turn their spies into human _tasers_ who can gain intel by just stepping into the same building, the NID will be all over it."

Dr. Fraiser looked at him. "The General didn't say anything."

Daniel was confused.

_Is Daniel just having auditory hallucinations caused by the parasite?_ Dr Fraiser thought.

"I hope not," Daniel said, looking at Janet.

Janet looked at Daniel in shock, and Jack, Sam, and Teal'c just seemed confused.

The general cleared his throat a little. "Just before you spoke, Doctor Jackson, I_ was_ thinking about the NID."

"And I was just thinking that you..."

"...That I might be hallucinating because of the parasite?" Daniel suggested.

"So it _is_ some sort of telepathy," Sam said excitedly. "But that's not actually possible."

Jack grabbed the microphone. "I'm thinking of a number between one and five billion."

"It's twelve," Daniel answered right away, just as shocked as the other people.

"Well," Jack said with a sigh, "That was an easy one... What about...?"

"Blueberry?" Daniel said questioningly with a nervous laugh.

Everyone looked at O'Neill.

"Blueberry, sir?" Sam asked him.

"The the name of your grandmother's cat who died when you were 17 years old," Daniel answered.

"Is that not meant to be the name of a small, commercially-grown fruit, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked after having remained silent for so long.

Daniel smiled genuinely amused by the story he was picking up on from Jack. "They got it when Jack was five. They weren't sure of the right name so they said he could name it anything he wanted. His grandmother was making blueberry muffins that afternoon. Jack ended up dropping a bowl of berries on the all-white cat, staining some of the fur," Daniel gave a weak laugh. "With all those blue spots, he said she should be named _Blueberry_ -- Blue for short."

Everyone in the room was even more surprised. Not only could Daniel pick up simple names and numbers from someone, but also complete stories.

"Now I have no choice but to report this condition directly to the Pentagon," General Hammond said finally.

Despite their usual acceptance of military protocol, everyone present had some sort of argument. "But, Sir, if only you could..." Sam began; "With a little more time I may be able to..." Dr. Fraiser started; "Mayborne will take over this place and..." Jack argued; "General Hammond, I believe there may be another..." Teal'c said.

"Everyone quiet," Hammond said calmly, holding up his hand.

They were silent.

"I'll wait another hour, but no longer," Hammond agreed. He focused on Daniel. "And you're sure this can only be contracted by a _bite_?"

"As far as I can tell, the parasite _has_ to enter the blood stream," Dr. Fraiser answered. "There are concentrations on his lips and teeth, so it seems likely that it will _only_ be spread by the saliva or his blood mixing directly with another person's blood."

"That's what the guard told me," Daniel agreed. Daniel pushed himself more upright in the bed, getting a little excited. "I think he was trying to help me get out. The things he was telling me... it's like he _knew_ I'd get away from the cell."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked over the intercom.

"He knew I'd be able to do something _interesting_, as he put it. He didn't know how I'd make it work, but somehow I got that lock open with electricity."

"Yeah, so how _did_ that happen?" Jack asked.

Daniel laughed a little. "I don't really know. I just put my hand on the lock..." he said, thinking hard as he held one hand out. "...And started thinking that I wanted to be able to do something to..."

Just then, as though someone had pulled the bed out from under him, Daniel started to fall like a rock, through the bed and the floor until he wasn't in the room. The needles attached to the two tubes in his arm let out a metallic sound as the ends fell limp against their stands.

"Daniel?" Janet called in shock.

Everyone in the observation area was just as startled.

Daniel dropped through the ceiling and landed hard on one shoulder in the corridor one floor below the room he'd been in. He let out a groan as rolled onto his back to look at the apparently undamaged ceiling. He could have sworn he had just fallen through quicksand; for a few seconds his skin had been tingling, then he couldn't breathe, and finally his shoulder hit the concrete and everything seemed normal again. "And it just keeps getting weirder," he commented aloud to himself.

The two airman assigned to guard the corridor approached him quickly with their hands resting on their weapons, startled by the archaeologist's sudden appearance. They'd heard rumors about Dr. Jackson being brought back to isolation after their last mission, but all specific details of the mission had been classified.

"Dr. Jackson?" airman Wallace asked. "What are you doing down here?"

"More importantly, _how_ did you get here?" airman Coe asked immediately, glancing up at the ceiling, then towards the cement walls.

He slowly sat up. He was sore, tired, and a little dizzy, but he didn't want any trouble. "Well, however I got here you should probably just take me back upstairs."

"This is General Hammond," the radios on the vests of the airman and the overhead intercom called in unison. "Dr. Daniel Jackson has disappeared from Medical Isolation Room #3. If anyone sees him, approach him with extreme caution and notify me immediately."

The two airmen took a step back from the doctor and unholstered their guns, aiming their weapons at him.

Daniel held up his hands a little to show he was being serious.

Coe lowered his weapon and spoke into his walkie-talkie. "General? This is Sergeant Coe on level 22 just outside the Isolation Quarters. We have Doctor Jackson."

"Is he willing to return to the medical level?" General Hammond asked over his radio.

"Yes, Sir, he is," Coe answered simply.

--

Daniel walked through the door into the isolation room, sprayed immediately by the disinfectant chemicals. "Isn't it a little redundant?" he complained as the chemicals stung his skin. He sped through the entrance and went deeper into the small room.

"We'll be dismantling them in a little while," Dr. Fraiser assured. "Now, do you want to tell me what just happened?"

"Everyone keeps asking _me_ what's happening, but I'm as in the dark about it as the rest of you," Daniel snapped, walking over to the mirror to get a good look at his reflection.

"In that case, I'll just get some blood samples and leave the conversation for the next check-up," Dr. Fraiser snapped back as she made some notes on her clipboard.

"Hi, Jack," he said to the mirror. "Sam went to the mess with Teal'c, right? You may as well join them. I think I'm going to be in here for a while and you haven't had anything to eat since yesterday." Daniel's eyes shifted to the reflection of Dr. Fraiser, and then he turned around to talk to face her. "I'm sorry, Janet. I have a headache, but maybe I'm just under a little too much stress," he added, gesturing at the mirror.

Jack got from his seat. "If you say so," he said into the microphone, "but we'll be right back up here as soon as we can."

"Thanks," Daniel called back to the mirror.

Janet glanced up from her clipboard, but kept writing. "Your irritability is understandable."

Daniel looked back at his reflection. "I look like hell," he said softly, examining his eyes and then his jagged teeth.

"You're still a little anemic and dehydrated, so if you sit back on the bed I'll have Cindy hook up the IVs again," Dr. Fraiser said a little more cheerfully.

Daniel walked back over to the bed and sat down, leaning against the slightly reclined back-piece.

She laid her clipboard on a tray and picked up the blood pressure cuff. "Aside from the headache, how are you feeling?"

"Like I've gone mad," he admitted, raising his eyebrows and staring up at the ceiling.

"All of this does seem a little stranger than even we tend to encounter," Dr. Fraiser put on the blood pressure cuff and began her measurements.

Daniel looked at her, realizing something. "I can hear your heart beating."

Dr. Fraiser looked at him, still taking her measurement. "Really?" she asked with a skeptical tone.

Daniel put his free hand on the tray beside his bed, and used the tip of the fingernail on his index finger to count out her heartbeats. The pace was steady, but then his finger tapped a little more quickly as Janet's heart sped up from being caught off guard.

"Considering the nature of this parasite, and the legends surrounding it, I'm not surprised."

He closed his eyes, mesmerized by the sound as he kept time using his finger. "Yes you are… Those movies always made you a little nervous even though you knew they weren't real…"

She unvelcroed the cuff from his arm, still watching Daniel carefully.

The loud noise snapped him out of his trance, and his eyes popped open. "Sorry about that," he said nervously, putting his hand back onto the bed. "I think I could hear it when I was talking to everyone before, but with all the machines I didn't really notice."

Cindy came through the doors carrying a saline bag and a new package of whole blood. She went to the IV stand and began reattaching the equipment.

When she touched his arm to insert the needle, he jumped a little.

"This will only hurt for a moment," she assured, her hand resting reassuringly on his forearm.

For a split second he knew exactly what he was supposed to do: grab her by that gentle hand and bite down, not letting go until she was on the floor and her heart stopped making a sound. He looked away from her quickly, his own heart beating frantically. He felt a little electric charge run up his arm, almost like he had just pinched a nerve and he heard a small _crack_.

Cindy pulled away with a small cry.

Daniel and Dr Fraiser both looked at her.

"Cindy?" Dr. Fraiser asked.

"J-Just a little shock," she admitted, looking at Daniel with a mix of confusion and surprise.

"I guess that might have been me," Daniel admitted. "Are you ok?"

She nodded a little. "Fine." She reached out and grabbed the dangling needle again. "I just need to put in the IV."

He looked away again and felt the prick in his arm.

She walked away.

Dr Fraiser had been watching him. "Did the guard mention any behavioral changes that might happen with the parasite in your system?"

"Breck," he said cryptically.

"Excuse me?"

"The guard was named Breck."

"All right," Dr. Fraiser said slowly. "Did _Breck_ tell you anything?"

Daniel shook his head. He saw the needle running into his arm, and somehow felt better already.

"Well, the initial blood-work showed significantly low levels of Serotonin, which is very likely to be effecting your mood. You may be a little irritable, or more impulsive."

Daniel gave a short laugh. "So I am going crazy, but not in the way I thought I was."

Dr. Fraiser shook her head. "It's _probably_ nothing to worry about so long as you have been given a transfusion." She picked up her clipboard. "It looks like the levels are nearly within the normal range, but since you're still dehydrated I'm hoping they'll get a little higher with this next unit. I've used a higher gage needle to speed up the transfusion," Dr. Fraiser added. "As we gave you the first transfusion, we realized the parasites secrete several opiates that might..."

"...Be highly addictive," Daniel finished for her. "And I think you're right."

Cindy stopped beside him again to adjust some cords.

Dr. Fraiser nodded a little, turning around to check the readings being put out by the monitors.

His heart was beating more quickly again, and he felt that same urge. How simple it would be for him to just reach out...

She walked away again.

Daniel sighed with so much relief that it felt as if an enemy Jaffa had just aimed his weapon at him, and suddenly decided to walk away.

"Daniel, how are you feeling now? This last reading doesn't look like the others," Dr Fraiser mentioned.

Cindy picked up s folder from the counter and left.

"I know we're on a time crunch, but can I have a few minutes by myself?" Daniel requested. Even being in the same room as Janet was making him feel a little uncomfortable. "If I really did electrocute Cindy when she touched me, I think I need to figure out _how_ I did that so I don't do something worse."

"I'll be here to help you," she assured with a warm smile. "I know that you and Teal'c have meditated together in the past, so I have a few techniques that might help you focus."

He nodded a little. "It's always just _happened_. When I was in that cell I just had my hand against the lock when I felt a little shock."

"Sit up and swing your legs over the bed," she said softly, wheeling a chair away from the counter and to Daniel's bedside. She sat.

He nodded a little and sat up.

"Sit up straight, take a deep breath and try to relax."

He sighed, rolling his shoulders before settling into a good position.

"What were you thinking about in the cell?" she asked.

"Just about getting out."

"Anything else? What about how you were feeling?"

He laughed a little. "I felt like I was going to fall on the floor and never get up again. I was scared..." He became a little more serious, licking his lips to consider a more specific answer. "I knew I _had_ to get out of there. I was terrified about what would happen to the others if I didn't make it happen."

"So would you say that you were focused on what you wanted?"

He nodded a little.

"Put your one of your hands on the bed next to you, and close our eyes."

He did as he was told.

"Now I want you to imagine that your the spot you put your had is a little damp... a thin layer of the wet substance is touching your palm."

He nodded a little.

She spoke very slowly and calmly. "Your hand begins into sink into the mattress. You can feel that dampness oozing around your fingers. It wasn't just water; it was glue. Your hand is resting on the mattress again, and you can feel the dampness drying. As it dries it feels like you're becoming more attached to the mattress, like nothing is able to pull your hand away."

He nodded a little again.

"Hold out your other hand."

He held out his right hand in front of him.

She placed the pen from her clipboard his outstretched hand. "I want you to remember what you were feeling when you knew you had to get away. Concentrate on letting the pen fall onto the floor. You don't want it in your hand any more, but instead of letting it go, it falls right though your hand, like your hand simply isn't there any more."

He was concentrating on the task, but nothing seemed to be happening.

"The only part of you that the pen needs to pass through is your hand. The rest of you is connected to the bed. Only your hand can let it fall."

Daniel suddenly realized he must have been holding back because he didn't want to fall through the floor again. His hand went numb and he heard the pen hit the cement.

"Very good," she said, trying to stay calm as to keep Daniel as relaxed as possible. "Let's try that again."

--

Jack, Teal'c and Carter filed into the observation area of the isolation room. Cindy was sitting at the desk but when they arrived she stood, smiled sympathetically, and left. They sat down behind the desk, looking into Daniel's room.

Daniel was standing beside the bed, one hand on the mattress and the other reaching out towards the stand beside the bed. The bags of blood and saline were dangling against the metal stand again, nearly empty. His eyes were open now, listening to the doctor as he focused on her instructions.

"You don't have anything to worry about. Just remember that you are still connected to that bed."

He nodded a little and brought his arm down, passing it cleanly through the metal table as if it weren't even there.

Everyone in the control room was surprised. Even Teal'c was momentarily stunned.

Daniel's eyes shifted to the mirror, the relaxed feeling fading as he became aware of his surroundings again. "Everyone have a nice lunch?"

"You're making progress, I see," Jack continued.

"Yes, Daniel is doing very well," Dr Fraiser answered. "He was concerned about injuring someone with his new abilities, so I was walking him through a grounding exercise that seems to be helping him focus."

"Can he destabilize the molecules of anything he comes in contact with? Or is it just his own body?" Sam asked excitedly through the microphone. "And, well, apparently his own clothing."

Daniel and Dr. Fraiser both smiled at her aside.

"It's only been forty minutes," Dr. Fraiser excused with a small laugh.

"I guess I could try," Daniel said, looking at the mirror and then back to Janet.

"Would you like me to start off with the meditation?"

Daniel shook his head a little. "I'll need to try it without your help at some point." He picked up one of the pens from the floor. "Besides, I'll just be on level 22 if I disappear."

Dr. Fraiser nodded.

"Maybe level 23," Daniel added as he placed the tip of the pen on the metal stand, holding the top. It almost looked as if he planned on balancing it by the tip, and then he took a deep breath, walking himself through his own form of focusing exercise.

The others watched with bated breath.

He exhaled slowly, pushing the pen slowly downward. It slid through the metal like a hot knife through butter. He let go when it was halfway through, and the pen continued to drop, cladding on the floor without damaging the pen or the metal tray. Daniel was dizzy. He swayed a little before finding his balance.

"That's extraordinary," Sam said. "I'd love to take you down to the lab and..."

"Carter," Jack said scoldingly in a very serious voice as he watched Daniel. "Daniel, are you alright?"

Daniel caught himself on the bed, sitting down. "I think I might need another transfusion," he admitted weakly. "And I'd like to try having a drink of water."

"Oh, of course," Dr Fraiser said hurriedly. "I should have known that you would need one after exerting yourself like that. I'll be right back." She rushed out the metal doors to get another package.

Daniel laughed nervously. "Now I just need to figure out how to keep from electrocuting the people I touch."

"I would be willing to assist you with further meditation," Teal'c offered.

"I was actually wondering if you could let me go back to the planet," Daniel said. He could already hear their hearts beat a little more quickly.

"After everything you did to get off that planet, why on Earth do you want to go back?" Sam asked with an irritated voice.

"Well, to start with they know what's happening to me..."

"No," Jack said, still serious. "To start with they wanted you to kill someone."

Daniel nodded a little, picking up stray thoughts from all his friends as to why it's such a bad idea from him to go back. "Forget I mentioned it," he said with a little wave of his hand.

Dr. Fraiser came in with another unit of blood and a glass of water.

"Thanks," Daniel called to her, taking the glass.

She attached the bag to the IV stand, and started switching the cord.

He drank the water quickly, still hearing bits and pieces of his friends' thoughts about his request to return.

"I'm sorry we keep having to prick your arm," Dr. Fraiser said.

"It's ok," Daniel said, finishing the cup.

She touched his arm, looking for a healthy vein on his pale arm.

Just like the other times, the touch to his skin and how close to him she was made his heart beat more quickly.

Her eyes darted to the monitor, and then looked to Daniel. His eyes seemed almost glazed over, and he suddenly looked even paler than he was a few seconds ago. "What's going on?" she asked suspiciously, still touching his arm.

"Can you please just start the transfusion," he said, his voice shaking a little. He leaned over and dropped the glass on the metal tray next to him.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong," she said.

Daniel looked at her. He could hear her heart beating steadily, but it almost seemed louder than it was before. "Janet."

"Not until you tell me," she repeated stubbornly.

He crawled off the bed quickly, taking a few steps away from her. "I think you should leave. I'll start the IV myself."

She put her hand on her hips. "I'm staying right here."

Daniel licked his lips, still looking at her. "I don't feel very good, and I'm not sure if you're safe around me." His hands were clenched in fists.

"How so?" she pressed.

Daniel gave another nervous laugh. "How do you think?" He was pacing a little. If he didn't burn off the nervous energy somehow he knew he'd end up using it in a way he'd regret. The sounds in the control room were distracting, too. Jack and Sam were both a little excited, their hearts beating like they were watching an action movie. Even Teal's heart was thumping a few beats faster than it had been a minute ago.

Dr. Fraiser nodded a little. "Alright. _I'll_ start the IV and then leave you alone. I need to give the General an update anyway."

Daniel licked his lips and nodded a little, walking slowly back to the Doctor.

Janet held his arm again for just a moment, and inserted the needle. She stood there a second, looking to Daniel for some sort of reaction.

"You still need to go," he said, not looking at her this time. He was watching the blood go quickly through the tub and head towards his arm.

"If you say so," she said pleasantly. _The parasite must be effecting his mind_.

"You're probably right," he admitted. "And that's why you need to go."

She nodded a little, and headed for the door.

Daniel leaned back in the bed, beginning to calm down as he was again feeling the effects of the parasites being fed.

--

"Yes, Sir, I think he may be dangerous," Dr. Fraiser admitted.

"Seriously?" Jack wrinkled his nose. "This is still _Daniel_ we're talking about."

Jack, Sam, Teal'c and General Hammond had been called into the briefing room for an update on Daniel's status.

"Yes. I believe it _is_ still Daniel. That's exactly why he asked me to leave," Dr. Fraiser continued. "If he were being completely compromised by this infection, he would have likely given into whatever he was keeping himself from doing."

"So he's dangerous, but not dangerous?" Jack asked playfully.

Dr. Fraiser rolled her eyes a little. "He has the ability to be dangerous."

"We can't be jumping to conclusions then," Sam said, siding with O'Neill's wishful thinking. "If you push someone enough, anyone can be dangerous."

Dr. Fraiser gave a hard sigh. "You've asked for my assessment, and I've given it. Yes, he is still Daniel, but the parasite is giving his body new objectives. It used to be for food and water, but now it seems to be for blood."

The loud speakers kicked on and the sirens began to sound. Technician Walter Harriman's voice called, "Security team to the Gate Room! Dr Jackson is attempting to..." His announcement was cut off.

--

Walter was standing by what was left of the phone he used to make the emergency announcements. Dr. Jackson had ripped it from the wall, right out of his hands.

He was standing by the keyboard, typing quickly. Sam was just a floor above him and it didn't take much effort from him to find out how to activate the gate and reprogram the computer so they couldn't stop him from leaving.

The wormhole opened with an explosion of blue particles, sinking back to a flat surface.

Daniel took a deep breath and jumped over the keyboard and through the blast window, the glass not so much as cracking as he passed through it and started to fall towards the floor of the gate room.

The guards were streaming into the Gate Room by the time he landed in front of the ramp.

Before the first guard could say anything, Daniel was holding one of them against him around the neck and backing towards the ramp.

"Daniel?" Jack called running into the room as he raised his pistol towards his friend. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Teal'c came into the room, too, raising his Zat gun at Daniel.

"I have to go back to that planet," Daniel said simply, still holding the airman tightly. "I don't want to hurt anyone, but unless I go back there and find out exactly what's happening to me, my condition could end up hurting a lot of people."

"If you return to that planet you will undoubtedly be imprisoned once again, and subsequently expected to murder a human to prove yourself worthy of living as you are," Teal'c commented.

Jack looked around at the room full of guns pointed at Daniel. "Everyone lower your weapons," he called to the group, looking back at Daniel. Only he and Teal'c were still aiming at Daniel.

"You know I can't stay here," Daniel said more desperately, shifting his hold on the airman. "The NID will haul me off to one of their secret hideouts for testing, or maybe they'll ship me someplace worse. They'll never even _try_ to cure me. They'll run tests and end up making this into a weapon. Besides, the urges I've been having since I got back here aren't something I think I can live with for much longer."

"For now you gotta stay _here_," Jack said, aiming his gun at Daniel's shoulder. "At least until Hammond gives us the OK to go back to that place _with_ you." He pulled the trigger.

Daniel heard the sound and closed his eyes. The bullet harmlessly passed through him and hit the edge of the Stargate, deflecting into a wall. Daniel opened his eyes, looking furious. "Are you crazy, Jack!" he demanded. "With all those things in my blood you could have splattered them all over this room!"

Jack shrugged.

Daniel gave a nervous laugh suddenly and continued, "I just fell through 5 floors and walked through a half dozen doors to get down here, so you really thought a _bullet_ was going to change my mind?"

Jack nodded towards Teal'c.

"I apologize," Teal'c said as he fired the Zat gun at Daniel.

The electricity hit Daniel on the arm and spread through his limbs and into his hostage. Daniel let out a small sound of shock, as if he'd been splashed with cold water, but recovered just as quickly. The soldier he was holding was now unconscious, but Daniel's strength allowed him to hold her in the same spot. This time Daniel just looked annoyed. "And I don't think energy weapons are going to work on someone who can generate electricity from their hands."

"Point taken," Jack said casually, he and Teal'c both lowering their weapons.

"Face it: you can't stop me from going back to that world."

"You know I had to try," Jack said with a sneer.

"That's the point," Daniel continued more sadly. "If something happens and I try to hurt anyone, noone here can stop me."

The blast doors to the control room rose. General Hammond, Sam, and Doctor Fraiser all arrived in the control booth slightly above the gate room, looking through the glass to see Daniel standing on the ramp with the unconscious airman in his grasp.

"What are you doing, Doctor?" Hammond asked over the speaker.

"If I don't head back to PX5-332 to get some answers, I'll be Colonel Mayborne's lab rat for the next hundred or so years," Daniel called. "And you can bet they'll wanna see what kind of damage I can do to a person with these," he added, gesturing his clawed hand towards his pointed teeth. "If the wrong kind of person gets infected with this parasite, I assure you there will be a pandemic."

"What do you mean _wrong kind of person_?" Hammond asked him, remaining calm. He knew that Dr. Jackson wouldn't hurt the soldier.

Daniel laughed a little. "Janet already told you the way this parasite works."

Hammond was silent, waiting for him to continue.

"The parasites make people _want_ blood," Daniel clarified as much for himself as for the others. "And once they get it, it feels better than anything you've ever felt before." He licked his lips. "It's addictive. I've had a few close calls today." His eyes focused on his hostage, almost forgetting himself again in that moment as he stared at the helpless woman. "I've only ever fired my weapon a handful of times during all the missions I've been on, but right now it would feel so easy to just…"

"Let the airman go and I'll order a probe to go through as a relay between us and the people on that planet," Hammond said calmly, cutting off Daniel's thought. "We need to assure that you won't be harmed if you were to return to the planet."

He looked back to Hammond, lowering the hostage a little as he came to his senses. "I can't live this way."

"According to our calculations, the second sun won't be below the horizon on that part of the planet for at least another 5 minutes," Sam said into the microphone. "If you go through the gate right now, the sunlight will kill you."

Daniel shook his head a little, trying to focus on something other than the hostage. "Then it looks like this wormhole will just need to stay open for another 5 minutes," Daniel said. He looked up at the General. "Please give me _permission_ to return to the planet."

Everyone was at a standstill for a moment.

"You know that I can't negotiate with you. You should also know that we had already planned to consult the inhabitants of the planet about your condition. Just let the airman go," Hammond said finally.

Daniel tilted his head a little as though he were listening for a small sound that was far away. His eyes shot back to the General. "You haven't told anyone, but Mayborne's men are already on their way. You reported to the President before the briefing with Fraiser and he suggested they research my condition. They'll all be here in less than 5 hours to take me with them."

Everyone was silent again, surprised.

Hammond sighed. "That's right," he admitted calmly.

"We haven't even been back on this planet for 18 hours," Sam began. "It's hard to believe this falls into his jurisdiction. With all due respect, General, you can't just turn Daniel over to them."

"He doesn't want to," Daniel assured. "But once they set foot on this base he won't have a choice."

"Captain Carter, disengage the wormhole," the general ordered.

Sam typed a few things on the keyboard. "He's locked me out but I think I can close the iris." She typed a few more keys and the iris behind Daniel closed.

"You're still not going to let me go," Daniel announced in a disappointed voice.

"2 minutes until the second sun sets on PX5-332, Sir," Sam reported to the general.

"Daniel," Hammond said. "Let the airman go."

Daniel tilted his head a little, listening again to what his boss was thinking. He smiled a little and carefully lowered the airman to the floor. "She'll be fine." Daniel stood again with his hands up a little to show that he wasn't planning on doing anything else. "I'd rather die than help Mayborne's people make a weapon out of what's in my blood."

"Daniel, we're not going to let you die," Jack said casually, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Which, of course, would mean we're not going to let Mayborne take you."

Daniel backed towards the gate.

_That's what General Hammond was just thinking_, Jack heard Daniel's voice in his ear, even though Daniel hadn't said anything. _You can hear me, right? Toss me the transmitter. When I have my answers I'll come back. _Jack looked a little confused. Was he the one hallucinating now?

Daniel nodded a little, holding out his hand as he stopped in front of the iris.

_Just tell them I made you do it_, Daniel's voice called in his ear again. _It might get me in trouble later on, but for now they don't know the difference._ Jack grabbed the remote transmitter from the pocket of his vest and tossed it to his friend.

_If you don't dial back in 2 hours with a report, we're coming for you_, Daniel heard Jack think. _Since people are executed for not wanting to kill someone_, Jack continued, _you can bet we're not leaving you in that cell a minute longer than we need to_.

Jack pulled the radio from his belt and tossed it to Daniel.

"The suns are down now on the planet," Sam announced. _Good luck_ she thought, hoping that Daniel had picked that up, too.

Daniel turned quickly and jumped into the iris, passing through it and successfully entering the wormhole.

The gate shut down.

Hammond turned to Fraiser. "Doctor, use the samples you collected from Dr. Jackson to keep trying to find something that will kill this parasite without harming Daniel."

The doctor nodded and left.

"Stand down," Hammond announced to the base.

The emergency lights stopped flashing.

"I want SG-1 to prepare for a mission to recover Dr. Jackson in…" Hammond paused before giving a timeframe, looking at the team for suggestions.

"…Just over 2 hours," Jack finished.

Hammond nodded. "Be ready to leave at 1630 hours."

--

Daniel stepped out of the gate, landing on the stone platform of the park's monument.

Over a dozen citizens had gathered around the gate. When they'd emerged from their homes at sunset, a few of them had seen the blue lights coming from the park.

Daniel looked around at the faces of the people gathered at the base of the stairs. A few of the _citizens_ looked as human as anyone at the SGC, while a handful of others looked even more gnarled with longer claws, bald heads, strangely colored eyes, and a more skeletal body structure. Most of the onlookers, however, looked like a general balance between monster and human, just as the woman who bit him, that guard from the town, and his own condition seemed to resemble.

The gate closed behind him.

"Hello, Daniel," a man's voice called from behind the gate.

Daniel looked through the empty ring and spotted the red-haired guard, Breck, who had relayed some of the details of the planet to him. He was dressed much more casually than he had been, so he hoped that meant the jailer wasn't there on official business.

"You don't need to run," Breck called, seeing how startled Daniel was. He looked to the citizens. "All is well. Return to your business."

The citizens who had gathered "I promise you that I'm not going to stay here. I just want to know more about your world and what's happened to me, then I'll go home."

"For your own sake I hope that's true," Breck said simply with a smile as he walked to the front of the staircase. "Are your hungry?"

He'd used a lot of energy to escape from the base. "As long as it doesn't mean hurting anyone." Daniel had consumed much more disgusting things during his anthropological studies, so he figured almost anything would be acceptable to keep up enough strength in case he needed to escape after all.

Breck nodded. "My feelings exactly." He gestured towards one of the paths through the park.

Daniel walked off the platform and he and Breck began down a walkway.

"Why am I not being arrested?" Daniel asked, still not picking up any stray thoughts from Breck. _Maybe I'm weaker right now than I thought I was._

"I convinced the Thane that the way you escaped during the day was proof enough of your willingness to survive at all costs."

"Thane?" Daniel asked. "As I know the word it's from an area of my planet's Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon culture-- it just means _official_ or _attendant_. A famous playwright named Shakespeare used the word to describe someone in line for the crown," he rambled before realizing he may also not know what was meant by _playwright _or _the crown_. He took a breath to continue but Breck stopped him.

"I understand," Breck said. "A play is a form of artistic expression, and a crown belongs to a _king_."

Daniel was a little surprised.

"You're not very skilled at hiding your thoughts," Breck pointed out. "And you look like you could use a meal, but I wouldn't say you're weak."

Daniel sighed a little. "I've never needed to hide what I was thinking. No one on my planet can actually read anyone's mind."

Breck nodded. "The Thane is the top official of our region," Breck clarified, "what you might call a Prime Minister or President, but he wasn't elected democratically. Thane Donovan was part of the first group of people on our planet to be transformed."

"How long ago was that?" Daniel asked.

Breck was quiet for a few seconds, gathering some information from Daniel's mind. "To use your measure of time… about 740 years ago, give or take," Breck finally said.

By now Breck was leading them out of the park and towards another residential area. This neighborhood had homes with larger yards and unconnected houses.

"Most of the first ones were killed by the humans, including the one who came through the gate and began to spread this. The few who survived the first 50 years negotiated for our rights."

"And that's why human criminals are sent here? So you can have a source of blood?" Daniel asked, remembering the blur of images and facts Breck had given him the day before.

"As long as we stay on this continent, the humans on the other 10 continents leave us alone. Yes, our planet is at least twice the size of yours. There are 8 regions to this continent. Every night a boat from a different continent comes to our neighboring region and the criminals are dispersed to the regions that are running low on slaves. It's an old tradition. It started before the blood substitutes were available. Two of our regions refuse to have any human contact whatsoever, even refusing to use slaves to help run their commerce during the day. Those regions are mostly scientists."

"And the other 6 regions?" Daniel asked. "How were their leaders chosen?"

Breck sighed. "Donovan, Bonnie, and Reed were a few of the first who negotiated our freedoms. They rule the largest regions, and are very strict about the old laws. Criminal slaves can be treated in whatever way a Citizen wishes. They can even be killed if the Citizen wants natural blood. Thanes Alison, Innes, and Brycen tend to be more lenient. They were chosen as leaders by their own citizens, and allow their laws to change with the will of their people. For at least 300 years the citizens who buy slaves in their regions are required to keep them alive. It's been negotiated with the human governments so that after 5 years the people guilty of lesser crimes are shipped back to their own continents and forgiven for their offense. Harsher crimes come with a minimum of 15 years of service."

They turned down one of the other streets.

"As far as those who are like us, all of the regions have similar ways of assessing people who have been infected. They catalogue the person's abilities to assure that they can serve their regions most effectively. The three old-style regions take it to another level, as you may have noticed. They fear overpopulation by vampires, so changing a person without prior permission is typically a capital crime for both the vampire and the person who has just been changed." Breck led them to the front door of one of the largest homes on the block. He put a hand on the black pad in the center of the door. After an electronic click, the door opened. "Welcome to my home," he said pleasantly.

Daniel walked into the building. "How do you fit into this? Why try to keep me alive if you live in one of the regions that are _strict_ about people being infected?"

Breck closed the door and directed him into a living room. The windows were closed, but there were various electronic devices emitted small amounts of light. He went to one of the windows and pressed a button. The coverings to the windows rose quietly and the light of two moons shone into the room. "Please have a seat," he said, leaving the room.

Daniel sat down on a loveseat-sized, fluffy couch made of leather as his eyes scanned the room.

Breck returned with two cups. He handed one to Daniel before sitting down in an armchair and taking a sip from his own. "It's synthetic."

Daniel drank a sip from the cup. It wasn't actually blood. It tasted like nothing he'd ever had before; a little strange, but not too bad. The effect of it seemed to be more intense than, but generally the same as, the blood he'd been transfused with at the SGC: he felt instantly stronger and more relaxed.

"I am a mix of what you might call a _mayor_ and a _sheriff_. There are many cities in this region, and I am in charge of keeping the peace in mine. The Thane ordered your capture and you were to be treated like any other criminals who tried to steal a slave from another Citizen. By the time you escaped I'd learned quite a bit about you and your friends," Breck said, occasionally drinking from the cup. "Namely about the Stargate and the other worlds you've seen."

Daniel took another drink from his. He was already feeling infinitely stronger.

"I told the Thane that you were from another planet, and that your people had interfered because of a misunderstanding," Breck continued. "I assured him that if any of you ever returned, you'd eventually go back to your own planet." He took another sip. "I found out a lot about _you_ while you were in there. I told him there was no chance whatsoever of you infecting a person. You'd die before attacking someone."

Daniel nodded. "Thanks." He finished the rest of his drink. "So that's why you showed me information about your world and let us escape?"

Breck nodded a little. "Amongst other things, I was curious about what you could do, as I am with everyone who has been changed. Luckily, you seem to be a level 2."

Daniel was about to ask, but Breck already began to explain.

"When we _rank and evaluate_ someone, they are first placed into one of three levels. The levels are very easy to decide. Level 3 is a more concentrated form of the infection." He took a sip of his drink. "They typically have more obviously altered physical features. Unusual eye colors, more animal-like fingernails, and lack of hair are just a few of the features they might develop. Behaviorally, they need to consume more blood, so it is frequently harder for them to be near people." He set down his cup, and looked at Daniel again. "You're right, level threes are very much like the creature in the _Nosforotu_ film."

Daniel was a little surprised by Breck's reference, but knew Breck must read minds every day so he moved on. "And Level 1?"

"Level 1 infection means the person looks completely human at all times except for times they chose, or times when they require nourishment. In human form, their abilities can manifest weakly, but when they feed or chose to use the full strength of their abilities, their teeth and fingernails change almost immediately to accommodate their will."

"Wouldn't that be the best level?" Daniel asked quickly. "Being able to just _turn it off_ would make it so much easier to live with what you are."

Breck nodded a little. "Maybe it is... But because it is known to be easier for a level one to remain in human form, when the parasite takes control they aren't accustomed to the sensations associated with our condition. They are oftentimes completely overwhelmed even if their needs are no greater than yours or mine. Unfortunately, I have been forced to execute many level ones due to their unlawful infection or murder of human slaves, regardless of if they had intended to harm any of them."

Daniel raised his eyebrows. "So level 2s always look different from uninfected humans, but, because they learn to control their urges, they don't unwillingly harm people?"

"Not exactly," Breck said. "I once arrested a level two citizen who refused to own slaves. He had been hiking in the ruins and become trapped after falling into a deep cavern connected to a series of caves. It took him three days to find his way to the surface. By then he was almost too ill to keep walking. He waited for sunset and made his way through the plains. The first people he encountered was a citizen traveling with his slave. Before any words could be spoken, the starving level two attacked the slave and killed him."

Daniel was stunned.

"He was genuinely regretful of his crime and wasn't executed. Instead he was imprisoned for several months and forced to reimburse the slave-owner for his losses."

Daniel nodded, a little more concerned about his level 2 status than he was a moment ago.

"Level ones and threes are usually the ones who are executed after infection. Only those with truly impressive abilities, or natural skills, are given a high enough status to be granted citizenship. Unfortunately, noone knows what status someone will be when they are infected. The level of the citizen who infects them doesn't seem to have any bearing on the level they become." Breck shrugged a little. "I don't have much of a mind for science, but I've often considered challenging myself by learning all the science behind our condition." He looked hard at Daniel, learning more about his thoughts on the subject.

Daniel set the cup on the floor by his seat and leaned back, feeling very relaxed and content. Janet's explanation about the effects of the stimulants secreted by the parasite wasn't an understatement. He could see why some _Citizens _might choose to live in regions that still allowed them to consume natural blood.

"With your knowledge of languages and other worlds, I think even the humans of this planet would have employed you if you hadn't escaped," Breck commented off handedly. "Then again, they might have thought you were too much of a threat to let you near the large populations. Walking through walls, reading minds, talking to people without speaking, and the ability to electrocute people with your hands probably wouldn't go over too well."

"It didn't," Daniel agreed.

Breck smiled. "Ironically, those with too high a rank are not any more welcome in the human regions than an infected Level 3 slave."

He nodded again, mulling over the politics of the planet.

"I'm not really a fan of the way this region is being run," Breck confessed finally. "One of the regions without a leader is on our lower border. Over the years I've helped a handful of accidentally infected, lesser criminals with a level two infection to _immigrate _to the other regions if they would otherwise have been put to death by the old laws."

"You mean you've smuggled them out?" Daniel asked, relieved to find someone on this planet who may share his views about the sanctity of life.

He nodded a little. "I respect my Citizens and their right to keep slaves, but I think our people could become something more than they are." He voice became very passionate, and just a little sad. "In some ways our region is still stuck in the past. We should work with the humans to pool our technology and find a way to _reverse _this in people who don't want our sort of life, or whose level effects their ability to function in society."

"That's what my people are trying to do," Daniel said excitedly. "Have your scientists made any progress?"

Breck shook his head. "Not much."

"Maybe we could work something out. Would Thane Donovan be willing to work with the people of my planet to cure this?"

"Donovan isn't going to be making decisions for us any longer," Breck explained.

Daniel looked at him, shocked. "Did I just end up in the middle of a revolution?"

Breck laughed. "Yes. The people in my position throughout the cities of this region have met several times. We're not sure how this is going to go, but just in case the change in power doesn't go smoothly, I've already helped most of the _civilians_ leave. Houses along this block are virtually empty; they've mostly immigrated to the three moderate regions. Donovan's was the worst of the three old regions. He was assassinated a few hours before sunset. As soon as it was confirmed I bundled up and posted a notice asking those who want things to stay the same to move to the regions run by Reed and Bonnie. We hope for this region to maintain constant relations with the human continents while continuing to research our affliction. Moreover, we'll no longer be accepting human slaves in this region. Using the resources we have, we'll manufacture better daytime commerce centers and underground passageways. We'll have no reason for slaves."

"So you'll be a region with qualities of the isolationists as well as the moderates. That sounds like…" Daniel began to say, but he was interrupted by the sound of an explosion coming from the city.

"I guess it's not going to go as smoothly as we'd have liked," Breck said sadly with a long sigh as he stood. He looked back to Daniel. "I have something for you, but then I'm going to have to ask you to go back through the Stargate."

Daniel stood. He'd been given plenty of information about the planet, but not nearly enough.

"I need you to wait here for a little while," Breck said hesitantly. "With the way things are going in town, I'm not sure how long I'll be away. The documents are in my office, back in town." Breck turned towards a cupboard in the corner of the room. "Broadcast on," he said in a more commanding voice.

The cupboard opened to reveal a sheet of nearly transparent glass with moving landscapes shown in the screen.

"It's like your _television_," Breck clarified before turning back to the cupboard. "World events," he called to the screen.

The channel flipped to a pale, red-headed woman talking about weather patterns.

"Just tell it a topic and it will find the right frequency," Breck continued.

There was another explosion.

"W-What if someone stops by?" Daniel asked nervously.

"I need to get my bag before the town goes up…" he said distantly. Breck looked concerned. He looked back to Daniel. "You can use your abilities?"

Daniel nodded a little.

"Great," Breck said happily. "I'll be back as soon as I can." He left the house quickly, following the path back towards town.

Daniel looked towards the broadcast, and sat back down where he had been, paying more attention to the flickering lights in the direction of the city than the light coming from the monitor.

--

Daniel glanced at his watch.

Breck had been gone for over an hour, and in that time there had been several ground-shaking explosions. Through the window, in the distance, he could see flames raising from a house he'd passed on the way from town. Fearing he would be seen, Daniel had commanded the television to shut off not long after Breck had left, and he stayed in the dark room a few feet from the window.

The front door opened suddenly.

Daniel stood quickly, hoping it was Break, but fearing it wasn't. He back towards the window, waiting for the new arrival to round the corner. If it wasn't Breck, it couldn't be hard for him to pass through the window for escape.

"Daniel?" Breck called. "It's just me."

Daniel sighed.

Breck came into the room with a duffel bag and held it out to him. "This is a copy of the work my region has been doing concerning the parasite. Even with what I've told you of our history, I've included a few books about our world's history prior to the outbreak." He laughed. "I knew you were interested in that, but I don't know much about it myself." He gestured back to the bag. "There are a few samples of the blood substitute and its formula. It's safe for you to drink, and pretty effective on humans who need transfusions. Hopefully it will help your people as much as it has helped ours."

Daniel quickly pulled out one of the books to see what the language was. At a glance it looked like some sort of mix between Gaelic, Latin, and Gou'ld.

"You don't have time for that," Breck said hurriedly, looking at the window as he motioned for him to put the book back. He stared hard at Daniel for a moment, his eyes narrowed a little.

Daniel his eyes were wide, and then he blinked hard a few times. In a matter of seconds Breck had relayed to him the alphabet and grammar of the language in the books, everything he'd need to quickly translate everything that he'd included in the bag.

Breck's expression softened. "Follow me."

Daniel stuffed the book into the bag and slung it over his shoulder as he followed Breck out of the house. They didn't even bother closing the door behind them. "Why didn't you tell me about your world like that, the way you did yesterday at the prison?"

"Telling you about our written language was easy, like relaying a math equation. Politics and history have opinions, wars, and egos… It's very draining to even attempt it non-verbally," Breck admitted. "If anything happens on the way, use your abilities to make it back to the Stargate."

"Daniel, come in," called Jack's voice thought the radio in Daniel's pocket.

Daniel grabbed onto radio as they walked. He pressed the button. "I'm here. I'm on my way back to the Stargate… Where are you?"

Jack, Sam, and Teal'c stood on the platform of the Stargate, all of their weapons ready to fire.

"We just went through the gate," Jack announced.

"Are you guys all right?"

The once pristine park was now charred in several places and frozen in others. Most of the flowers and trees had been flattened, uprooted, burned, or frosted by a blizzard and only a few lamplights remained upright. Some patches of ground looked like a mountain range of peaks and craters were the soil itself had been manipulated. The city was ablaze, so there was no lack of light.

"Comic book-style war zone aside, we're fine," Jack called happily into the radio. "What's going on here?"

"Breck and I will be there in a minute," Daniel assured. "I'll tell you all about it once we're back on Earth."

"_Breck_?" Jack asked.

Daniel and Breck were entering the first group of houses they'd passed on their way from the park.

"The jailer from yesterday," Daniel explained quickly. He sighed. "I'll get there faster if I'm not talking. Just keep both eyes out for the locals. Most of the people are pretty _upset_ tonight."

"I never would have guessed that they were angry," Jack said sarcastically. "Maintaining radio silence." He left go of the button and held his weapon with both hands.

As Daniel and Breck sped through the street they saw smoke coming from the park. They both ran supernaturally fast down the empty street towards the smoke.

"Jack," Daniel called as he and Breck slowed down to a human pace when they spotted the rest of the team hunkered by the DHD.

"Whoa," Sam said in shock, aiming her gun at them when she saw the movement.

"Daniel," Jack said quietly, still scanning the park for movement with an aimed weapon. "Someone's out here. They're invisible, but every now and then…"

At that moment a fireball came out of nowhere, flying towards Daniel and Breck.

Daniel grabbed Breck by the shoulder to allow the sphere of flames to sale through them. The fire passed through Daniel's right side and nicked Breck left leg before it crashed into the ground several yards behind them.

Daniel called out in pain, grabbing onto his side where the flames had passed and catching his balance on the DHD. "It must have been too hot," he panted quickly. The bag slipped to the ground.

"It's Beth," Breck announced calmly, his eyes tracking the unseen threat.

"You all right?" Jack asked Daniel quickly, focusing a moment on his friend.

Daniel nodded, straightening a little as he found his balance. "I will be."

"Bethany!" Breck called to the empty area, stepping forward with a slight limp from where the flames had brushed him.

"Daniel," Jack whispered, his eyes darting around the field again for any sign of movement. "Start dialing."

Daniel began pressing the buttons on the DHD.

"Show yourself," Breck ordered.

A pale woman with long dark hair appeared a few feet in front of Breck. It was the woman who had bitten Daniel.

Daniel paused, staring at the woman. This was the first time he'd seen her since his team left her house, and she looked quite a bit more tired and worn than she had the other day.

"They have nothing to do with this," Breck said calmly. "Let them be on their way and no harm will come to you."

"It _must _be their fault," Beth spat at the group by the DHD. "Everything was fine in our region until they arrived. Thane Donovan was the best thing to happen to our world."

"It has been many years since Thane Donovan has had the support of all of his Citizens," Breck continued just as calmly. "Many cities of his region already refuse to use slaves. They emphasize _who _they are, not _what_. Some of the technologies and medicines they produce are being used across this planet."

"Do you think the rest of us contribute so little to our world?" Beth asked seriously.

"Daniel," Jack hissed. "Let Breck take care of her. We need to get home before any more of _them_ show up."

Daniel looked at Breck for a moment and then continued to punch in the symbols.

_You learned about the Stargate from our thoughts, so do you know the sequence of symbols I'll be using to return to our home?_ Daniel's voice asked in Breck's ear.

_Yes_ Breck replied simply. Daniel reached into his jacket and pulled out his radio, dropping it at the base of the DHD.

_When this is over, dial the gate and use the radio. My friends and I would be willing to help you and your citizens_. Daniel assured in Breck's ear. "We all contribute to this world. By the old laws of this region, those who didn't have something to contribute would never have been allowed to survive," Breck continued to Beth, distracting her to give SG1 enough time to escape.

_My people thank you_ Breck replied as Daniel pressed the button at the center of the device. There was an explosion of blue light from inside the ring before it settled to the flat surface.

Sam dropped her weapon and pulled up her sleeve, punching in the iris code into her remote as quickly as she could.

Beth looked even angrier. "And by those same laws it doesn't matter if I survive this night because my crime should mean I am put to death. These three human thieves and my mistake shouldn't be allowed to live!" She disappeared.

Teal'c, Jack, and Carter all stood, backing towards the gate with their weapons drawn.

Breck's eyes were darting around, still tracking Beth even when the others couldn't.

Daniel didn't have any weapons, but he started to stagger towards the gate as well, his eyes scanning the open field in an attempt to pick anything up the way Breck was doing.

"Sam! Nine o'clock!" Breck called, knowing that she'd be able to react to that terminology better than any other.

Carter swung her weapon to the left, but it was too late. Something had caught her gun.

The invisible enemy grabbed Sam by the front of her shirt collar, beginning to choke her, as Beth's other invisible hand squeezed and mangled the metal weapon.

Before Teal'c and Jack could aim their weapons towards the invisible woman, Daniel ignored the pain in his gut and used his supernatural speed to run at the place the woman should be standing and tackle the entity to the ground.

Sam fell to the ground, too, coughing as she scrambled a few paces away from the scuffle.

Daniel pinned down the invisible mass, straddling the figure. Some blood began to seep from his neck.

Beth became visible again, revealing both clawed hands wrapped around his neck and cutting into his skin.

Daniel grabbed onto the woman's arms and zapped her with some electricity from his palms… but it didn't seem to be very effective.

By now Teal'c had managed to draw his Zat. He fired it at the struggling pair.

The woman let out a small cry of pain before going limp and closing her eyes.

Daniel put a hand to the injuries to his neck as he jumped away from Beth.

"Are you unharmed?" Teal'c asked Daniel urgently.

Daniel coughed a little, but nodded, his eyes glinting a little in the light as his stare shifted to Sam. She was still on the ground, but seemed ok. "Sam?"

Sam kept one hand on the back of her neck as Jack helped her to her feet. "Just a little whiplash I think." When she pulled her hand away there was some blood.

They all stood in shock for a moment.

"Did she bite me?" Sam whirled around and lifted her hair, showing Jack the area of her neck that was injured.

"It's hard to tell if it was from a tooth or a claw," Breck announced, joining the group. "But your Dr. Fraiser will be able to tell if the infection is in your blood. But don't worry, even if there is a small amount of the parasite present, there's always a chance that they will not take hold." Breck gestured towards Daniel. "As a precaution, just stay a few paces away from him."

Daniel nodded a little, "Her fingernails caught me pretty good, so my shirt and hands are probably covered in the parasite." Daniel immediately realized that that may not have been what Breck was referring to. As soon as he bothered to notice the presence of the blood on his hands, the scent filled his nostrils and set a chill of excitement up his spine. He was instantly ready for something else to happen, almost eager for more bloodshed. He licked his lips. He could actually smell the difference between Sam's blood and his own. The energy he'd used to get to the park and struggle against Beth left him a little thirsty, and just like the nurse on the base, Sam seemed to be an appealing target. Trying to ignore the surge he was feeling, he looked up towards the wormhole.

Sam nodded, putting her hand back over the wound, but unsure of what else to say.

Teal'c went back to the DHD and picked up the bag Daniel had dropped.

Breck held out his hand to Daniel. "It was nice to have met you, Daniel."

Daniel looked back to Breck with a tired smile as he shook his hand.

"It looks like the park is safe enough for a few minutes, so I'm off to help my people in what's left of my town. Hopefully you will hear from me soon," Breck ended with a slight bow. In a blur Breck was running out of the park and into his burning city.

Daniel sighed and turned towards Jack, taking the heavy bag away from Teal'c as if it weighed nothing. His side still ached a little, but he could tell he was already beginning to heal.

Jack gestured towards the open gate. "Let's head home."

--

Daniel stepped through the gate first, receiving much the same audience he'd had when he'd left just a few hours ago: a dozen soldiers aiming automatic weapons. He lowered the bag to the floor and held his hands in the air a little as he cleared the area directly in front of the gate.

Teal'c was the next to arrive, followed by Sam and finally Jack. The wormhole disengaged behind him.

"Did you find anything useful?" General Hammond asked, making his way through the armed men.

"I'm not exactly sure," Daniel said, his hands still in the air. "Am I being put in the brig, or can I just go straight to my office and work on these translations?"

"Lower your weapons," Jack called to the soldiers, walking the group towards the General.

Daniel lowered his hands, picked up the bag again, and followed his team.

"What _did_ you find out?" Hammond asked a little more urgently.

"Carter needs medical attention so how 'bout we comply with medical protocol and tell you about the Brotherhood of Mutants a little later," Jack suggested casually.

Hammond wasn't entirely sure about the pop-culture reference, but nodded anyway. "We'll debrief in one hour."

Teal'c, Jack, and Sam headed for the door. Daniel began to follow when Hammond stopped him.

"We already know your status," the general began, "so just get cleaned up and you can head to your office. There will be two guards accompanying you, but you can move about the base freely." He gave a nervous laugh, "After all, you proved we can't just keep you in the brig." He cleared his throat and continued seriously. "Keep in mind that Mayborne will be here in just under three hours. I hope you brought something back with you that Mayborne's men will want to take to their base even more than _you_."

Daniel looked a little grim. "Hopefully that _something_ won't be Sam."

--


	3. Rain

**If you read parts 1-5 before June 8, 2008, please go back and have a re-read. I explain more about how the newly infected are ranked and it might come into play later. Thanks! Oh, and have a look at the Poll I posted on my profile. It will effect part 7.**

--

Part 3: Rain

--

Briefing room

Daniel had been sifting as quickly as he could through the information contained in the books Breck had given to him. He'd given the information on the blood substitute to Dr. Fraiser, but very little of the information he'd come across so far had been helpful in informing him of a possible cure. The books documented the course of the parasite pretty thoroughly, so at least some of his own questions had been answered by returning to the planet. Unfortunately, it might have been at the cost of Sam's health.

Sam had been checked over and her wound bandaged, but without a definitive answer about whether or not she was going to be transformed. They had attempted to disinfect the wound with a UV light treatment, but despite the slightly burned skin left around the wound, small amounts of the organisms were still present in her blood samples. Fraiser theorized that she could remain asymptomatic for a few hours even if she were fully infected, and the material in Daniel's new books supported that idea.

Daniel, Jack, Teal'c, Sam, and Dr. Fraiser had all been called in again for an update of Daniel's research. The NID was due onto the base at any time, so after the briefing there wouldn't be much more time before Daniel would be expected to leave the base.

Sam sat in one of the chairs, looking a little nervous. The doctor said there was no problem with her continuing to work outside of the infirmary so long as she immediately reported any strange symptoms.

Teal'c and Jack had been given physicals and deemed healthy enough to remain on missions.

"The short answer is that nothing Breck gave me is a definitive cure," Daniel announced as he stood to give the group his update. "But they have been making progress."

Sam was visibly shaken by the news, wringing her hands as she sat. By no means was she ready to give up, but at the moment she felt uncomfortably powerless.

"But the information he gave me means we don't have to start at the beginning," Daniel added quickly.

Sam still wasn't reassured.

"They don't have very advanced medicines, despite the mechanical technologies we witnessed at the prison, so there is a chance that _our_ medicines could make an impact on this," Daniel said, giving a quick gesture to himself.

"There are a few people from the CDC with the proper clearance, and I've asked them to take a look at the properties of this parasite," Dr. Fraiser interjected. "I've given them an e-mail with the information."

"That really wasn't necessary, Doctor," a voice came from the stairwell leading to the briefing room from the control room.

Everyone looked up from the briefing, worried that they recognized the voice.

Col. Harry Mayborne walked into the room. "Most of my men are in your lab gathering the samples you collected from both Capt. Carter and Dr. Jackson."

General Hammond folded his hands on the desk in front of him, and looked boredly to the new arrival, "You're running ahead of schedule, I see."

He reached into his breast pocket and held out some papers to the general. "...And with fresh orders from the President to take the Captain with us, as well."

Hammond took the papers and examined them.

Sam stood and looked to Hammond fearfully. "Sir?"

"We don't even know if she's been infected," Dr. Fraiser told Mayborne coolly.

Mayborne laughed. "It doesn't matter. At the very least she's been transferred under my command."

Two more of Mayborne's men came up the staircase.

Mayborne looked at Sam. "I know you have quarters here, so these men will escort you up there to gather a few belongings. I'm afraid that until we know whether you've been infected we can't authorize you to go back to your civilian housing."

"There's no need for those guys," Jack finally chimed in. "I'll walk her up there and we can be back in no time."

Mayborne smiled. "Nice to see you, Jack," he said pleasantly. "But I'm afraid, given the circumstances, I must insist." He gestured for the guards to approach Sam.

"Very well," Hammond said, looking back up from the papers. He turned back to the people gathered around the table. "He's allowed to take all material pertaining to that parasite. This document specifies all samples stored in the lab, all computer data, and any other personnel who may have been contaminated."

"Well, in that case I'm still not going to let your goons alone with either one of them as long as you're on this base," Jack said more passionately.

General Hammond turned to Jack and nodded. "I agree." He looked at Mayborne. "You _may _have the papers in order to take my personnel off this base and treat them however you like, but as long as they're on this base I will see to it that they are still treated well."

Mayborne shrugged a little. "If that's what you want."

"Col. O'Neill will accompany Captain Carter, and Teal'c, if you don't mind, I'd like for you to act as an escort for Dr. Jackson," Hammond announced.

Jack nodded and Teal'c inclined his head in agreement.

"Where are you taking me?" Daniel asked after silently standing at the head of the table. He glanced sideways towards Sam. "I mean _us_."

"I don't know yet," Mayborne admitted, watching Daniel carefully.

Daniel was staring intently at Mayborne, but he couldn't pick up any sort of other answers.

"I wasn't told the location because we were aware of your _apparent _telepathic abilities," he continued. He sighed and clapped his hands. "Let's get moving."

Sam looked to General Hammond again.

Hammond nodded.

She and Jack trailed out of the room, followed by one of the NID soldiers.

Daniel was watching them all carefully.

"I'd like to take Daniel to the infirmary for one last transfusion," Dr. Fraiser said, standing.

Mayborne smiled. "I think not."

Dr. Fraiser rolled her eyes with a sigh. "And why is that?"

"Obviously, it's safe to assume that if he receives a fresh transfusion of blood, he may start feeling healthy enough to escape in rout to the next location," Mayborne said snidely.

The Doctor nodded a little, looking to Daniel.

Mayborne looked to Daniel. "Or was that the general idea?"

Daniel started to leave the room. "I don't know what you're talking about," he lied badly. He had silently asked Janet if she'd be willing to help him. After a few seconds of private debate as to the dangers of this parasite losing containment, she agreed.

Teal'c rose and followed Daniel, making a point to not even look at Mayborne.

The NID agent trailed behind the pair.

--

Jack, Sam, and one of the NID agents walked down the hall on level 17, heading towards Sam's room.

_You can hear me, right?_ Daniel's voice called in Jack's and Sam's ears. He, Teal'c and his NID escort were on an elevator going slowly towards his office.

Jack and Sam both glanced at eachother as they continued to walk.

_Well, Sam, this may be one of our last chances to get out of here now that there's only one guard on each of us. Mayborne didn't lie when he said he didn't know _where_, we're going, but I got a very solid picture of what they'll be doing to us._

_But they don't even know if I've been infected _Sam couldn't help but thinking.

Jack looked at her, somehow having heard her as clearly as he'd heard Daniel. _Daniel, I just heard, Sam, so please tell me that's another one of _your_ tricks._

_As far as I know, it wasn't me_ Daniel confessed, the elevator stopping to let another airman off.

Sam's cheeks went a little pale.

_But it could have been me_ Daniel admitted when he picked up on Sam's worry. _This is a little new to me, too._

_What do you have in mind, as it were? _Jack thought, raising his eyebrows a little as they turned down the corridor.

_Knock out your guard, get to the hatch, and we can meet on level 12, near the backup generators_.

_And then? _Jack asked.

_We wait for sunset. I'll knock out the generators, and then we can head to the surface._

_And then?_ Jack asked again.

Daniel smiled a little. _I hadn't thought that far ahead, as it were._

"What are you smiling about?" the NID agent asked Daniel briskly.

Daniel stammered a little, caught off guard by the real-world voice speaking to him. "N-Nothing. I was just thinking about one of the books I was reading."

The NID agent didn't look too convinced.

"It was about one of the Thanes and his twenty-third wife's obsession with gardening ..." Daniel continued to lie. "... But I suppose it loses some of the humor in the translation."

The elevator beeped as Daniel's group arrived on level 19.

Jack and Sam opened the door to her quarters and all three trailed inside.

_I'll pack some supplies_ Sam offered, finding her knapsack and packing it with some of the things they could need-- a blanket, jacket, money...

The guard was watching her carefully, waiting by the open door. "You know, we _will_ supply up with bedding," he reminded as she stuffed a military-issue wool blanket into her bag.

Sam nodded a little. "Sure, but I like this one."

The guard took a few steps inside. "You get a new one every time you send it to the laundry."

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Jack replied sarcastically as Sam continued to pack.

The guard drew his gun. "That's good enough. We can have the other things shipped."

"Fine," Sam said easily, seeing the pointed gun, but still trying to act innocent. She swung the bag over her shoulder. "I think I have enough to get me through a few days."

"No need for a gun," Jack said quietly, pushing the door shut.

The guard turned his gun on Jack.

Sam swung the bag swiftly off her shoulder and into the guard, winding him. She pulled the gun from his hands as he stumbled to the floor. "Don't move," she ordered quietly, her teeth clenched.

The guard was sitting on the floor, and he held his hands up a little.

With one swift kick to the face, Sam sent the guard to the floor, unconscious.

"That had to hurt," Jack commented with a wince.

Sam tucked the gun into her backpack and dragged the guard behind the bed so with the door left open passersby wouldn't be able to see him.

Jack calmly opened the door and they headed swiftly to the hatch.

_The Colonel and I are on our way up_ Sam thought.

_No_ Daniel said quickly. _We should leave Jack and Teal'c out of this, at least_ _for now._

_You should have mentioned that earlier 'cuse the guard saw me helping Carter_ Jack replied quickly.

The radio being carried by the NID agent escorting Daniel beeped.

"_Cooper, report_," the radio called.

The agent grabbed his radio and spoke as they reached Daniel's Office. "This is Cooper. We just got to Jackson's Office."

_Crap_ Daniel relayed to his friends. _Sam, you better hurry to the hatch. They're doing some kind of radio check-in and it won't be long before they know the other guy's out of commission. _Daniel opened the door to his room and all three of them trailed in.

Teal'c shut the door behind them.

As the guard turned to tell Teal'c to open the door, Daniel whirled around grabbed the guard by the shoulder. He felt the charge run through his arm, and zap the agent.

The agent fell to the floor, unconscious.

Daniel shook his hand a little. The electricity had left his own hand feeling a little numb, but he knew the man was alive.

Teal'c reached down to check the man's pulse.

"He's probably going to be fine," Daniel assured. "I don't think I put too many volts into him."

Teal'c nodded. He and Daniel dragged the man to the far wall behind the desk, just as Sam and Jack had hidden the other agent from people walking the halls.

_We have a problem _Jack reported.

Jack and Sam were outside with door leading to the ladder, their hands up as two NID agents at the end of the hall aimed their guns at the pair.

_Can you hear me, Carter? _Jack asked.

Sam nodded a little.

_Take me hostage_.

_Excuse me, Sir?_

_Take me hostage, we get through the door and then seal the hatch._ _You can make it to the meeting place in five minutes and I'll play unconscious on one of the landings. I'll play the old 'They made me do it'_ _card._

Sam looked at Jack.

_Consider it an order_ Jack added.

Sam reached forward and caught him around the throat with her arm, backing towards the door as if he were she shield.

A shot rang out from behind them.

Sam called out in pain as she was hit in the shoulder by another NID agent who had approached them from the other end of the corridor.

A second shot from the same gunman hit her in the leg, sending both her and Jack to the floor.

The three armed NID agents rushed forward.

One of them grabbed Jack by the arm and dragged him out of Carter's reach while the other two aimed their guns again.

Jack let out a groan as the agent pulled him to his feet.

"Are you alright, Sir?" the agent asked.

His shirt was splattered with blood from Carter's wounds, but one spot over his own shoulder continued to darken. He put his hand over the spot and a pain shot through his whole arm. At such a close range the bullet that had gone through Carter's shoulder and been stopped by his own.

_Make that a big problem_ Jack thought, followed by a few profanities that Jack hadn't said aloud in several years.

"What is wrong?" Teal'c asked.

Daniel had been silent for several seconds as he learned bits and pieces of what had just happened. He sighed, his eyes turning back to meet Teal'c. "Turns out we're scrapping that plan."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow questioningly.

--


	4. Oasis

**If you read parts 1-5 before June 8, 2008, please go back and have a re-read. I explain more about how the newly infected are ranked and it might come into play later. Thanks! Oh, and have a look at the Poll I posted on my profile. It will effect part 7.**

--

Part 4: Oasis

--

Daniel woke up, a little disoriented. He sat up and shielded his eyes as he scanned the small, very bright room.

With the layout of the room, he could have sworn for a moment that he was in an un-furnished version of his old, off-base apartment. After a moment, that ray of hope had flown and he realized it was just a freshly-built structure using the same blueprints. There was still a strong smell of sawdust and paint.

He was in the bedroom, but rather than sitting on his rarely used, queen-sized bed he was on an army-issue cot. The lighting in the room was also very different. For one, windows seemed to have been excluded from the floor plan, and several more overhead lights had been added to compensate. He stood and took a few apprehensive steps towards the open door that led to the hall, towards the kitchen and living room.

He couldn't hear anyone around, not even idle chatter in the distance, and no barriers seemed to be in place to prevent him from exiting the room. He stepped into the hall, and, still, nothing happened.

The last thing he remembered was returning with Teal'c to the briefing room to confess to Mayborne and General Hammond what happened. He couldn't really remember what was said, but at some point Janet came up to tell them about Sam and Jack. For the life of him, he couldn't remember what Janet said and what actually happened after she arrived.

He wandered towards the living room. The place seemed so familiar... The NID had obviously gone to great lengths to reconstruct a near-exact replica of a place he sometimes called home. It reminded him of when he'd first moved into that building: there was no furniture except for a single wooden bookshelf holding some of the books from his office. The kitchen was equally barren: a miniature refrigerator stood where the large one should have been; the open cupboards revealed that they were just as empty as the rest of the house; and several stacks of white paper cups were in a plastic bag by the sink.

The sliding glass door that was supposed to lead to the balcony instead opened into an entirely empty, warehouse-sized room.

"Nice to see that you're up and about, Doctor Jackson," Mayborne's voice called from the corner of the living room. He was suddenly standing beside the bookshelf as if he'd appeared from nowhere. "Or perhaps I should just start calling you Daniel. After all, I'll be getting to know you pretty well over the next few months."

Daniel was a little confused. It still felt to him as if noone were there: no heartbeat, breathing, or scent to signify that a living person was standing less than ten feet away from him. Although he was relieved to not experience such a strange sensation, he wondered if he'd been given some sort of drug meant to dull his senses. He certainly hadn't been cured. His teeth and fingernails felt as sharp as ever, not to mention how thirsty he was.

"Don't you just love alien technology?" Mayborne asked rhetorically, passing his holographic hand through the wooden bookshelf. His entire image distorted for a moment and then solidified. "I'm broadcasting from the control room about a hundred meters away."

"I agreed to come with you and not make a scene, but why do you even _want_ to keep me here?" Daniel demanded. "Why didn't you just lock me in a tiny cage like you do everyone else you _illegally_ imprison?"

"This is all perfectly legal, I assure you," Mayborne said cheerfully. "And despite the obvious budget constraints on our projects, the President insisted that you be kept comfortable for the duration of your _recovery_. Apparently he appreciates your efforts to save the world." He smiled. "On that note, you'll find a few packages of O-Positive in the refrigerator and some cups on the counter."

"Where are Jack and Sam?" Daniel demanded.

Mayborne shrugged. "Jack's probably up at his cabin recovering from that hit to the shoulder, and I think Major Carter has been prevented from going off-world until she's been psychologically evaluated."

Daniel wasn't entirely sure he was telling the truth. "So Sam wasn't infected?"

Mayborne nodded. "As much as we would have liked to have another subject for study, we got her here and she still wasn't showing any symptoms. Our scientists discovered that there weren't enough parasites present in her blood to initiate a transformation."

He nodded a little, still hesitant to believe the good news. "How long was I unconscious?"

"About 72 hours." He smiled a little. "We gave you a few transfusions spiked with tranquilizers. We weren't convinced that you'd cooperate with us during your initial examination."

This time Daniel smiled. "Why do you think you _can_ keep me in here?"

Mayborne stepped forward, still as cheerful as ever. "The area outside this room can be flooded with high-powered UV lights at the slightest sign of movement." He gestured towards the balcony doors.

Somewhere towards the farthest end of the room he heard the lock click and a door open. The whole room outside his apartment was suddenly brighter than anything Daniel had ever seen.

Daniel stumbled backwards into the kitchen to hide from the lights flooding into the room through the glass doors. He'd been so distracted by Mayborne that he hadn't noticed the footsteps of the approaching soldier in charge of opening the door on cue. "You've made your point," Daniel called calmly, holding up his arm to shield his already singed face.

The door in the distance clicked shut and the lights turned off.

"This room is your only haven, and as long as you're inside here we won't be doing anything to you," Mayborne assured.

Daniel came out of the kitchen to face his captor again. The right side of his face was burned red from the demonstration. He craned his neck and opened his mouth to stretch the stinging, itchy skin. The color paled back to the shade of the rest of his face, and he resumed his conversation with Mayborne.

"If we bring you through those doors, the UV lights will be controlled manually, and you'll go through some standard testing. There are tables and some equipment at the far end of that room. We'll keep the UV off so long as you cooperate. If you step out of line or try to escape, we can turn on the lights again. That little hostage situation back at the SGC won't be effective here. Everyone on this project is a soldier first and will die rather than give into your threats."

Daniel was getting irritated. "You should know me better than that."

Mayborne nodded. "You might not know yourself as well as you think. You're the one who typed up those papers from the planet. What makes you think you're any different from them? If you need blood, you'll find a way to get it. Oh, and on the topic of alien technology and the possibility of you attacking my staff..." He clapped his hands together once and disappeared.

Daniel stood still for a moment, waiting for something to happen. Just in case, he backed up a few steps into the kitchen to assure that the exterior lights weren't about to be triggered again.

Mayborne reappeared by the bookshelf he'd first been standing beside. He held up a small disc, about the size of a milk bottle top, with a red blinking light in the center. He looked very excited, bursting to tell him all about the device, but waiting for Daniel to ask for the information.

"What's that supposed to do?" Daniel asked mechanically as he rolled his eyes. It was apparent that Mayborne wouldn't just _give_ him the answer.

Mayborne smiled. "Glad you're catching on." He relaxed a little. "It was created on a planet where migrating carnivores, roughly the size of a t-rex, would come through and eat travelers on the way between certain towns."

"Long story short?" Daniel asked. As much as he always enjoyed hearing about the plights of people from other planets, at the moment he was more concerned with his own problems.

Mayborne sighed, disappointed that he'd have a less colorful story to tell. "It masks the vital signs of anyone holding this device. It keeps their heart rate, body temperature, respiration, and scent entirely masked from all other living creatures. It can't fool machines, and their voices can still be picked up, but one day we can adapt the technology for special operations." He smiled again, hoping for some reaction.

Daniel didn't say anything.

"Well, every person you come in contact with will be wearing one of these." He waved the medallion a little. "Hopefully you won't start thinking the staff on this base will be your next source of blood, but who knows for sure?"

Daniel sighed. "So explain to me again _why_ you want me here?"

Mayborne made a gesture as if setting the pendant on an invisible table in front of him. When he dropped it, it disappeared. He put his hands in his pockets. "We know everything that was in the books you got from your friend Breck, but our organization wants to verify the accuracy of the data. Besides, not all the details of your _condition_ were in those records. We need a living specimen to answer a few of our more _specific_ questions."

Daniel was shocked. "You'd be wasting your time. The books are right. They've been gathering information for centuries." He raised his voice, finally too irritated to contain his emotions, "Why are you _really_ keeping me here?"

"It should be obvious, shouldn't it?" Mayborne asked with another chipper grin.

Daniel nodded. "You want to make this parasite into some kind of biological weapon, and you need an endless supply of samples."

Mayborne smiled and touched his finger to the tip of his nose. "No wonder you can translate alien languages so fast." He looked around the room again. "We didn't do too bad of a job here, but you'll have to earn your furniture back. If you play nice we might even give you a television." With that, Mayborne's hands clapped together and he disappeared.

Daniel could hear some people approaching. The door opened again. He backed as far as he could into the kitchen, expecting the light. The only lights to come on were a series of normal halogen lights. It was bright, but it wasn't burning his skin.

"It's time to come with us," a woman's voice called after a few more seconds.

Daniel stepped out and saw five people: two well-armed men in uniforms and three women in lab coats. Mayborne had been right about the way the devices worked on him. It was almost like they weren't even standing there. If he concentrated, he could pick up a few stray thoughts, but otherwise they may have been holograms just like Mayborne.

"Right this way, Doctor Jackson," one of the men added, gesturing with his gun.

--

"General, it's been three weeks and there hasn't been a single word from Daniel," Jack said in an irritated voice. "_Or _Carter," he added.

"You knew contact with them would be infrequent once they were taken into custody by the NID," General Hammond said calmly from behind the desk.

Every day for the last three weeks Teal'c had asked daily about reports from Daniel and Carter. The handful of people with clearance high enough to know about the parasite would also ask him about how they were doing whenever they passed him in the halls. O'Neill finally convinced himself to ask the questions that protocol wouldn't normally allow.

"Didn't you make sure the President put in a good word for them with those psychopaths?"

"Of course we did but..."

"Then one of them would have dropped us a line, or made a call," Jack insisted.

Hammond sighed. "Regardless of how they're being treated, their location is secured."

"Then they're being treated like criminals?" Jack asked as casually as he could, his eyes catching a new photograph on the wall. He squinted his eyes a little to examine it.

"Just about all we're going to get out of the NID is that they're both still alive."

Jack looked at Hammond.

"Yes, I've tried to get an update," Hammond admitted. "They're alive," he said with a shrug.

"I want to talk to one of them," Jack said. "I know how twisted the NID can be, and for all we know _alive_ means knocked out and strapped to a table with half their organs missing."

Hammond raised his eyebrows.

"Blame Fraiser," Jack said defensively. "She's the one who's been coming up with that stuff. That's part of the reason I'm down here! Everyone who knows what happened to them has been acting a little off ever since they left. It probably has a lot to do with knowing that it's _our _people who won't let them talk to us... But I'm not saying that those of us who know can't be ready to head out on our regularly scheduled missions," he added quickly. "We just want to hear it from their own lips that they're ok."

Hammond nodded a little and was silent for several seconds. "I'll make some calls."

--

Daniel was lying on the couch, staring at the ceiling. He was sore all over, tired, dizzy, and above all hungry. It had been over five days since his _Keepers_ decided he should be punished for his attempted escape. It wasn't the first, nor would it be his last, attempt at freedom. Each time they've waited only three days before they decided to resume their daily delivery of O+ to his doorstep at some point before he woke up that day. By the third day he was so ill that he would almost pass out every time he tried to get up from the couch, so it had become harder for the scientists to run the tests they'd planned. Even if he drank enough water to fill a swimming pool, his body couldn't keep up with the needs of the parasites unless they gave him a transfusion.

By the forth day, Daniel realized that this time was probably not entirely about punishment. He knew it was likely that they were going to see approximately how long he could go between transfusions.

Daniel's eyes turned towards the door, and he raised his eyebrows. He could hear four people approaching.

When it got to be this long since he'd eaten, he realized he could hear the Keepers even more clearly as they approached, even with those devices to mask their life signs. It was at these times that he became a little more familiar with the layout of the building and the routine these soldiers were supposed to follow.

When people were coming to bring him food, one Keeper would approach, alone, from an elevator outside his glass doors, through the door to the left, and a few hundred feet straight down a hallway. When the Keepers were coming to run practical tests in the empty room, two, usually three, people would approach from a stairway to the right of the room, through the farthest door and down a curving hallway. If they came to run simple blood tests and check his vital signs, two or three would come from an elevator and bring equipment through the door nearest to his room on the right. Aside from his first day, that was the only protocol that had happened during his last five weeks of confinement.

This time, something was different. He could tell they were four people approaching from the doorway to the left--there was no question of that--and it seemed that only three were walking: the other was unconscious and being dragged, and he wasn't wearing the alien device. Two of the sets of footsteps stumbled a little and had an erratic pace. The third was walking with heavier feet, probably armed with a large gun and acting as a guard.

He sat up slowly, keeping his balance on the arm of the sofa as he got to his feet. They were at least halfway down the hallway now, and he hated how that made him feel. It had been weeks since anyone without the alien device had been so close to him, and he knew they were only going to get closer. As long as people weren't nearby, he felt like he could last a little longer, but as soon as anyone was close enough for him to hear even their footsteps approach his cell, he felt like he was capable of acting like any other animal.

The one with the heavier feet opened the door and held it for the others. The normal halogen lights clicked on. He was a soldier holding a large, heavy gun. The other two trailed in, dragging a bound and gagged person, just as Daniel had thought.

He licked his lips. This must be another test, the same test that the vampires on the other planet administered to freshly infected people.

The soldier let the door slam. He stopped walking, looking annoyed. "Hold," he ordered the others. His eyes turned upwards, towards one of the video cameras. "What are you waiting for?" he shouted.

The UV lights clicked on from above.

Daniel stumbled towards the kitchen, the one spot in the front room that was shielded from the light coming through the glass doors. His vision clouded from the head rush and dehydration as he fell into the shade of the kitchen counter, his heart beating fast. Once he hit the floor his vision cleared, but the room was almost too bright for him to open his eyes.

The doors opened and the two soldiers carrying the person walked in.

"What--" Daniel cleared his throat. It had been days since he'd spoken to anyone. "What are you doing?"

There was no answer and he was too weak to pick up any stray thoughts from them.

Daniel heard the rustling, then a thud as they dropped the unconscious man, and the glass doors closed again with a click.

He heard one of them mutter softly to the other as they walked back the way they'd come. "If we end up with skin cancer from getting such a high-powered dose of sunlight every day, they better give us a retirement bonus."

The other one elbowed him and whispered. "You know regulations. We're not supposed to talk until we're back to command. They say that _thing_ in there can hear us."

The soldier with the gun gave the simplest reply, "Shhh!" as he opened the door for the other two. They walked through, and he followed, the door clicking shut behind him. All the lights in the room went out again.

"_Thing_," Daniel muttered, almost as shocked by their view of him as he was by the fact that he'd give anything to just jump up, grab onto the person on the floor, and drink his fill before even bothering to see who the man was. He looked towards the unconscious man, doing his best to try to avoid thinking about what he was feeling.

The man was wearing a generic dark green uniform and a green hat. He didn't smell the way he thought a person should, but when he was so hungry he guessed his senses might be getting desperate.

Daniel leaned against the wall again, looking towards the ceiling--anywhere but the man on the floor. "C'mon... you're better than that," he assured himself with a sigh.

Mayborne appeared by the bookshelf, just as he had several other times. "You don't need to worry about infecting him. Consider it a peace offering. You get what you want, and we get your continued cooperation."

Daniel glared at Mayborne.

"He's just some Jaffa unlucky enough to follow an SG team through the gate," he continued as if there was nothing wrong with the arrangement. "It turns out that parasite can't take hold in a Jaffa. It can't do anything to convert them. We don't know for sure what keeps it from happening, but so far the big brains say it has to do with the configuration of their immune systems." Mayborne strolled towards the Jaffa and bent down to look at him for a moment. "Besides, it looks like he'll be dead pretty soon anyway." He straightened up and looked at Daniel.

Daniel's hands were balled up into fists. _No wonder the guy smelled different; he wasn't human._ He didn't need Mayborne jeering at him when he was doing all he could to keep from grabbing onto the Jaffa and doing exactly what Mayborne was saying. He could help but lick his dry lips.

"There's no way out of this," Mayborne said simply, strolling back towards the bookshelf. "It's either him or... you don't eat. Now, if you'll excuse me, I seem to have a guest." Mayborne clapped his hands and disappeared.

Daniel closed his eyes tightly. It seemed to be true. He couldn't imagine any way out of this, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could wait.

--

"Nice place you have here," Jack said sarcastically to the back of Mayborne's head as he entered the office attached to the main control room. "Everything a sadistic bastard like you could ever want."

Mayborne was standing beside his desk with his eyes closed, his hand on a glowing crystalline paperweight.

The wall behind Mayborne's desk was full of monitors that were showing several different angles of his apartment and the area outside his room. Jack was a little confused when he saw Mayborne on one of the monitors standing near Daniel. Mayborne was saying something. As he strolled towards the bookshelf, his image jumped from one screen to the next. As soon as Mayborne's image clapped his hands and vanished from the screen, the paperweight stopped glowing.

Mayborne opened his eyes. "Hi, Jack. What brings you to our little oasis?" His hand moved off of the crystal and he strolled back to the chair behind his desk.

Jack realized that crystal must have been some sort of machine, so he tried to not act too surprised. "The middle of a desert as a prison for a _vampire_ is so _predictable_," Jack said with a sigh. "Obviously, I'm here to see Daniel. You wouldn't happen to know where Carter is, would you?"

Mayborne didn't answer.

Jack frowned. "You guys claim to be all about _arming our planet against alien threats_. Well, Daniel and Carter have been doing that too... _only with a conscience_," Jack emphasized. "The President let me come here because he wants to get a more reliable report on Daniel's conditions."

"Complying with the President is more of a curtsey than a mandate when it comes to my organization." Mayborne smiled. "Besides, the only difference between the Daniel that's helped you save the world, and the Daniel we're holding, is that now _he's_ become the alien threat."

Jack gave a genuine laugh. "You're more of a threat to our planet than Daniel is, even with that parasite making him a little weird..." Jack hesitated and continued a little more quickly, "--er than anyone who speaks that many languages and travels to other planets every couple of days."

"You don't believe me? See for yourself," Mayborne said. He turned around and gestured towards the monitors, sliding his chair to the side of the mural so Jack could see every one of the screens. Mayborne pointed to the one with Daniel in it.

Jack took a few steps forward to see the details of the images a little more clearly.

Two people were on the floor just outside the sliding glass doors. The image wasn't very clearly shown on the small security monitor, but all he could see was one person was laying still on the floor and the other was bent over him. Another screen beside that monitor showed the same scene from a different angle, but in no more detail.

"What's going on?" Jack demanded.

"It looks like he's having some dinner," Mayborne said as cheerfully as ever.

Jack was furious. "Take me to him right now," he demanded.

"I think he's a little busy," Mayborne said in a voice of mock-concern.

Jack glared at him. "The President gave me authorization, and I said _now_."

Mayborne sighed and got up from behind his desk. "I'm serious, Jack. It probably isn't very _safe_ for you to go down there." He gestured towards the abstract sort of metal and crystal paperweight on his desk.

Jack continued to watch Mayborne carefully.

"But, if you insist in talking to him, I have another way."

Jack looked at the device. "You mean what you were doing when I came in?"

He nodded. "Press down the short green one with your hand. Your image will be projected into his room. You can walk around like usual, and when you want to leave, clap your hands."

Jack quickly pressed the crystal with his hand and suddenly found himself standing in the living room of Daniel's apartment. "Daniel! What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded, walking past the couch and towards the pair on the floor.

Daniel paused, not turning towards his friend. For a moment even he wasn't sure what he'd done. He'd been sitting a few feet away, trying not to think about the man, and suddenly he was drinking from the Jaffa's arm.

Jack still couldn't tell what had been going on, but he had a pretty good idea. "Did you just _bite_ that guy?"

"Is that really you, Jack?" Daniel asked at a whisper.

"Who else would it be?" Jack asked quickly.

"Mayborne."

"Ah," Jack said quickly. "Good point. Well, _assuming_ I'm me, tell me what just happened!" he said more urgently.

"It must be you," Daniel said just as quietly, not turning around, "since you have such great timing." He looked around for something to stop the bleeding. He saw a rag on the floor by where he had been sitting, so he reached forward and grabbed it.

Jack walked over to see exactly what he was doing. Daniel was holding a bloody hand towel to the arm of the unconscious man.

"I'm doing what I have to do to survive," Daniel said quietly, still not looking at his friend. He tied the towel around the cut and looked up to Jack, wiping his mouth with his hand as if it could hide what he'd had to do.

Jack was shocked and a little disgusted. All he could do is gesture at the guy on the floor and then at Daniel.

Daniel sighed, licking his lips to get the last of the blood from them. He was still very hungry, but at least he could think clearly again. "They haven't given me anything to _eat_ in five days, and today it looked like they were going to test me the way the vampires on Breck's planet wanted to."

Jack was still finding it hard to form words, but he tried to calm down enough to ask his next question less harshly. "So were you?" He gestured again.

"Going to kill him?" Daniel offered calmly. The parasites were apparently very appreciative of the transfusion because even with what he'd just allowed himself to do he was still feeling more relaxed than he had been in days. "He was dying before I touched him. Mayborne said he can't be transformed by the parasite, but I-I couldn't have..." Daniel's expression tensed a little, wondering if he really was telling the truth. "I mean..."

Jack wasn't really convinced. "When a dying man needs help, the Daniel I know would have _helped_ him, not taken a bite out of his arm."

Daniel clenched his teeth, finally fed up with having to excuse every one of his actions. He stood face to face with the projection of his friend. "I've been shot, burned, and beaten, and it's been _five whole days_ since they gave me anything to help me recover. You'll excuse me, Jack, if I finally gave in. One second I was sitting there, trying to convince myself that I'm any better than those the vampires like Bethany, and the next I've already got my teeth in him," Daniel shouted a little more harshly than he'd intended. "It was like I just blacked out!" He licked his lips again and turned away from his friend.

Jack didn't really have a reply. He was stunned. Daniel never shouted like that at anyone unless they disserved it. "What did you just say?" he asked, trying to contain his renewed frustration.

"Sorry," Daniel said after another minute. Above all else, he needed to stay calm. The dying Jaffa was still lying there, and Daniel wanted to make sure he didn't slip up and hurt the man again. He looked his friend straight in the eyes. "I swear I had no idea what I was doing, and under different circumstances I might have been able to last a few more hours. That's the most I could have hoped for... a few hours." He looked away again. "At least we know I have up to five days before I really lose it."

Jack nodded a little. "With the things that creep Mayborne was saying about you..."

He looked back to Jack and then continued. "I almost made it to the elevator," he said more distantly. The starving parasites must have already finished off their meal because the euphoric feeling was almost entirely gone. All that was left was an ache in his gut and a renewed pain in his chest.

"You _what_?" Jack asked, still irritated and disgusted, but foremost confused by the change in subject.

"I drank what was left in the refrigerator and had a blanket for when I got to the surface," he continued. "I put all the energy I could into that fixture over the sink." He nodded upwards, still looking at his friend. Now on top of the aches he was just left with the reality of his nearly having finished off a dying man. Jack was right by using the phrase _the Daniel I knew_ because he defiantly wasn't the same man he was a month ago. "If I'd have just tried to step across that threshold the motion sensors would have turned on twenty-two panels worth of UV lights."

Jack could see scorch marks on all of the lighting fixtures nearest to the sink. He realized they must have been from sparks that shot out when the light bulbs blew. "Twenty-two _panels_? That's one hell of a power bill."

"I shorted out the whole base, from what I could tell," Daniel continued with a laugh. "I passed through the glass doors--literally--, made it across the room, and was almost halfway down the hall when the lights came back on. I covered up pretty fast but by then the soldiers were already surrounding me."

"So you tried to escape?" Jack was finally calmed down enough to really follow the story.

"This place is a lot smaller than I thought it was, at least compared to the SGC," Daniel said. "Just seven floors up and I'd have been at the surface. About twenty miles from here is a town where I could have had shelter and found a car. Eventually I could have made it back to a gate."

"Aren't you supposed to _not _know stuff like that?" Jack asked. "What with being their prisoner, and all?"

"It took me a long time to find the information. They have some sort of device that covers their vital signs. It makes it harder for me to get a clear shot into their minds. That, and no single person knew everything I'd need to get out." Daniel leaned against the back of the couch, looking towards the kitchen. "The people who have the closest contact with me all the time are blindfolded when they're higher than the third floor, and they were all transported on cargo planes and covered trucks. I think the third floor is where they have most of there labs. It's just far enough away from me that I can't hear them. I got most of the above-ground specs from one of the armed guards." Daniel smiled a little. "He was on his lunch break and took a short cut through a staircase on the fourth floor. Most of the others don't even know they're in a desert."

"So you wanted to get back to the SGC?"

Daniel shook his head a little, folding his arms.

"Of course not," Jack smiled. "It would have been easier for you to sneak across the boarder to Russia and use the gate they have in storage."

"Exactly. But that's enough about me. What actually brings you to this little zoo?"

"You don't call, you don't write..." Jack complained in a very casual, joking manner. "I'm just making sure they didn't have you locked in a freezer or chained up in a dungeon."

Daniel raised his eyebrows. "Dungeon?"

"You can blame Teal'c for that last one."

Daniel nodded a little. "So... you're just here to catch up?"

"Well, _yeah_," Jack said simply. "How have you been?"

Daniel played along and answered in a sign-song voice. "You know the usual. Daily blood tests, the occasional sunburn... Every now and then I manage to get myself shot," he added, pulling up his pant leg to show a softball-sized bruise with a red scab in the center. "It should clear up now that they've _fed_ me." That wasn't the only pain that hadn't gotten around to healing itself. His headache was getting worse than it had been before Jack arrived. Admittedly, his wasn't exactly staying as calm as he probably should have been.

"That's from five days ago?" Jack said with a wince. "And not so much as a band-aid from those mad scientists?"

"Any word from Breck?" Daniel asked more seriously.

"Nothing," Jack said. "With all the super-powered troubles they were having that night he might not have survived."

Daniel nodded a little.

"Gotten any word from Carter?" Jack asked, finally having a calm enough state-of-mind to think of it.

A pain shot through his chest. He should have known better than to think that Mayborne had told him the truth. "Please tell me you mean Selmak."

"No, the other Carter. You know, that smart blonde we've been hanging around with the last couple of years."

Daniel ran his hand through his hair with a sigh. "When I got here t-they told me she wasn't infected so they sent her back to the SGC, and that you went to your cabin to recover from being shot."

"That I did," Jack said as calmly as he could. "But Carter was still gone when I got back. They wouldn't tell us anything aside from the fact that she's alive... Which could mean anything," he added, thinking again about Fraiser's theories.

"They didn't tell me."

Jack looked around a little, trying to keep from acting on his impulse to clap his hands just so he could go back to the office and punch Mayborne. "Is it just me, or didn't you used to live in a place like this off base?"

Daniel nodded. He went into the kitchen and filled one of the paper cups with water, drinking it and then crumpling up the cup.

"You need water?" Jack asked, a little surprised.

"Do you _ever_ read even a _little_ of the reports people type up?" he asked, his eyes falling on the Jaffa again.

Jack folded his arms, also looking down at the unconscious man. "Who _is_ that guy?" He positioned himself to see the face more clearly. "He looks familiar."

Daniel tilted his head a little, scanning the man's mind. "An average Jaffa," he said simply, pulling the hat off his head to reveal the tattoo. "Strong-willed but no match for the NID."

"That's where!" Jack said quickly, pointing at the Jaffa as if he'd just spotted a face in a crowd. "A few days after you left, SG-7 was coming in hot and he was the only Jaffa to follow them through before we closed the iris."

"They took his symbiote three days ago," Daniel continued. He looked hard at the unconscious Jaffa. "He's almost dead. Even if I hadn't taken some of his blood, I don't think he'd every have woken up again," he added in a sad voice.

"Well, he was trying to kill all of us," Jack assured

"His name was Rowak, and it wasn't _him_ trying to kill us. It was some Gou'ld he thought was a God." He clenched his teeth, angry at himself and the universe in general. His own heart was racing and it was just making his head hurt more. He raised his voice again out of frustration. "This _soldier_ spent his whole life training to die in battle. Instead, he's taken apart piece by piece to be used by the NID. They interrogated him for information on the Gou'ld for the last two and a half weeks. After they'd stripped him of his honor and made him betray his God's secrets, they took his symbiote. When he was finally too weak to answer more question, they decided to _feed_ him to some monster they have locked up in their basement. He doesn't even know it's happening..." He crossed one arm around his middle and put the other to his head, his temple throbbing and his chest working painfully. "And who knows what they're doing to Sam!"

This was the Daniel that Jack really remembered, and he was very glad to see some of him alive and well inside this new person. "Even if you weren't locked up in this place they'd have still just let the guy die," Jack assured. "We all do things we might not like when we want to stay alive. And I do have to admit that you were basically under the control of the parasite."

The room started to spin. Daniel wobbled a little and he fell to his knees. It felt like something was squeezing all the air out of his lungs while at the same time impaling him with some sort of rod through the abdomen. One arm was still around his middle, the other bracing him up from the floor. All he could do was let out a faint groan as the pain began to spread.

"You OK?" Jack asked urgently.

Daniel shook his head a little, lowering himself to the floor. He was laying flat on his back, just as he had several times over the last few days. Before it had helped, but now it was steadily getting harder for him to breath.

Jack was getting nervous. "This isn't just a way of getting out of this room right?" he asked at a loud whisper.

Daniel shook his head a little, gasping for air. He rolled over on his side. It must have been the Jaffa blood. Breck's records never mentioned Jaffa on their planet after the parasite was introduced, and since Mayborne said they can't be transformed that was the only thing that could be making him feel so sick. "Jaffa," he panted. "I shouldn't have... Bad..."

"I know biting the guy was _bad_." As had happened several times already, Jack wasn't following Daniel's train of thought. "Daniel, just tell me what's wrong," Jack said more urgently.

"Transfusion," he panted. "Not Jaffa. Need human." That was all he could manage to say.

Jack could feel a hand on his shoulder, and faintly hear someone calling his name. He looked down at Daniel. "I'm going to be right back with help. You gonna be ok for a minute?"

Daniel nodded quickly, concentrating hard on just getting another breath.

Jack clapped his hands and found himself standing in Mayborne's office.

"We hear that Daniel is requesting human blood," Mayborne said smugly.

Jack's concerned expression jumped back to on-guard irritation. There was a red light blinking near one of the monitors. "He didn't _request_ it. You guys _made_ him sick when you gave him that Jaffa and now he _needs _it. Do you have any medics heading down there?"

Mayborne nodded. "We have a doctor and a guard heading down to verify his condition."

Jack glanced at the monitor when he saw the lighting change.

The UV panels outside Daniel's mock-apartment had been activated.

The monitors in that room only played the audio softly, but he could faintly hear Daniel screaming in pain.

"What the hell are you doing now?" Jack shouted, charging at the monitors to get a better look at his friend's condition.

Daniel's image was helplessly reaching for the foot of the counter, trying to drag himself into the familiar shade of the kitchen. He wasn't moving very fast, and even on the black and white monitors Jack could tell that Daniel's arm was being burned very badly.

"Shut off those damned lights!" Jack shouted at Mayborne.

Mayborne walked over to a panel of un-marked buttons beside the monitors and hit several of them in sequence. "He would have gotten away from the light if he could have," he agreed.

The lights outside his room reduced to half the intensity, signifying that the UV lights had been turned off and the halogens had taken over.

Daniel's arm stopped thrashing for the shade and fell motionless to the floor.

"Gosh, Jack, you think we'd let our favorite little vampire get all burned up?"

Jack glared at him. "Whatever you've been doing to him, you have to stop it. Give him a break."

The nurse rolled Daniel onto his back and started to attach an IV to his arm.

"We've been doing just as the President ordered: treating him better than any of the Gou'ld we manage to capture."

"_Daniel_ and _Gou'ld_ should never be put in the same category," Jack shouted back. "Daniel's just a nice guy who has to go on a liquid diet because of some bugs in his system. That's all. Period. And are you even working on a cure? Or were you just planning on keeping Daniel in that room until you had _all_ your questions answered?" Jack demanded. "And have you been doing this same stuff to Carter, too?"

"To make a cure, we first have to study the parasite, and see exactly what..."

"Cut the crap," Jack interrupted.

Mayborne looked into Jack's eyes. "We aren't currently working on a cure."

Jack threw his hands up in the air and went back to the device, pushing his hand into the small green crystal. He immediately found himself by the bookshelf again.

The nurse and the guard jumped a little when he materialized, tense around the _creature_ they were supposed to look after.

Jack walked over to the duo so he could get a better look at Daniel.

Daniel was still on his back, his breathing labored. His right arm was so badly burned that it looked like it had been dipped in some sort of flaky black batter and allowed to dry.

"Daniel," Jack said to him gently. "Doin' any better?"

Two more soldiers arrived with a gurney, loading the Jaffa onto it to remove him from the room.

Daniel's eyes moved up to his friend, but he couldn't answer, his mouth still open to gasp for air.

Jack looked to the nurse. "How is he?"

"We're using a much larger needle than usual, so research suggests that it should start to regenerate once it begins to circulate the transfused blood." The nurse squeezed the bag a little to speed the flow into his arm. "And we've brought another package for it to drink once it's strong enough to move around."

"Did you just call him _it_?" Jack asked quickly.

The two guards carrying the Jaffa opened the door to the hallway. It slammed heavily shut behind them.

The remaining guard and nurse both looked at Jack, as if confused by his comment.

Jack was getting even more irritated. "Does it make it easier for you to treat him like garbage when you don't call him a _him_?" he demanded.

They still didn't answer. The package of blood was nearly empty.

Jack threw up his hands in frustration.

"With respect, sir, it's not really a person," the guard finally said.

"_His_ name is _Daniel_ and _he's _one of the best people I've ever known," Jack replied.

"It may have _been_ a good person before, but it's not one anyone more," the guard continued to argue. "Look at it," the guard said with a nod towards Daniel and an expression of disgust. "It drinks people's blood to survive, and has strange powers. It can read people's minds or just electrocute them with its hands. It's more like a wild animal; it's dangerous."

"And yet he's _still_ the best person on this base," Jack replied, very frustrated.

The package of blood attached to Daniel was finally empty. The nurse pulled the needle from his arm, and gave a nod to the guard. She turned around and walked through the open glass doors.

The guard backed out, his weapon aimed at Daniel even though Daniel hadn't moved.

"Let me ask you one little thing before you go," Jack called, standing in the line of fire as he followed the guard out.

The guard raised his eyebrows, and kept his weapon aimed through Jack.

"Has Daniel actually hurt anyone since he got here?"

The nurse turned around, but neither answered.

"He hasn't zapped _anyone_ with his hands?" Jack offered. "Maybe tried to bite a guard? Or scratch someone? Oh, has he talked to you in your head? 'Cuse I bet that if he wanted to he could sing a song over and over again until you wanted to shoot yourself."

"No, sir, it hasn't," the guard admitted, almost in a disappointed voice.

"Not even when he tried to escape?" Jack continued to prompt. He passed through the open glass doors, but seemed to have hit a barrier a few paces outside the door frame. He stopped. "A guy who can walk through walls just _happens_ to get recaptured without a fight?"

The guard and nurse still didn't answer, and kept walking towards one of the doors.

"So if he's such a dangerous animal, why hasn't he tried to hurt a single person?"

"It bit the Jaffa," the guard said quickly, stopping for Jack's reply.

Jack laughed. "In a firefight, haven't you ever just run on instinct? Since you're with the NID I bet you've done some pretty despicable things to stay alive."

Again the guard didn't answer. He turned around and followed the nurse across the empty room towards the door they'd arrived through.

"Besides, if you so-called _decent human beings_ hadn't starved him for five days he _wouldn't_ have hurt anyone," he shouted as they kept walking away from him. "You'd better spread the word to his other jailers that it's actually a _person_ you have locked up alone down here!"

The door slammed shut as they left the room.

Jack turned around and went back into Daniel's apartment.

Daniel's burnt hand reached towards the package of blood the nurse had left on the floor beside him.

"Feeling any better?" Jack called as he made it to his friend.

"Thank you for saying all of that," Daniel said softly with an airy voice. It was still a little hard for him to breath. Daniel held the bag in his burnt hand as he used his good one to sit himself up. He leaned against the little, island-counter.

Jack shrugged. "I can't believe they were calling you an _it_."

Daniel shrugged a little as he used his teeth to tear open the edge of the package, just as he had always done before they'd started to starve him. He started to drink from the bag.

Jack looked away from his friend, distracting himself from Daniel by passing his hand back and forth through a lamp.

"Unless you guys find a way to get me out, there's noone ever coming to save me," Daniel said as he finished the last few drops of the bag and tossed it towards the sink. "And I'd bet that Sam could use a hand, too."

"That does it," Jack said finally. "Screw the regulations they have at this nut house. I'm going to _make them_ take me down here."

Daniel slowly pulled himself to his feet. Steadying himself, he walked over to the couch and plopped down heavily, putting his face in his hands and bending forward towards the floor. "Don't bother. It would probably be better for everyone if you didn't."

Jack didn't argue. "I'll give my report to the President and see if I can swing something."

"Thanks, Jack," Daniel said unenthusiastically, still not looking at him.

Jack walked in front of the couch. "Give me a chance to do something before you make any more escape attempts, ok?"

"Sure," Daniel said quickly with a dull voice, still not looking up.

"Daniel?" Jack said in his usual scolding tone. "I mean it."

Daniel let his hands fall and then he looked up with another sigh. "So do I," he finally said with much more passion. "I don't think I'll be making any more attempts."

"That's good," Jack said. "It'll just get you hurt before I can do something."

"All I have to do is step through those doors, and there'll be enough direct light to turn me to dust in a few seconds," Daniel added, his focus shifted to the blackened skin covering his arm. Using his other hand, he lightly scratched at the charred covering. It flaked off with ease, revealing new, completely healthy pink skin beneath. "That is, if they'd ever let me die."

"Don't plan the barbeque just yet," Jack argued quickly. "Give me at least a week."

Daniel nodded, brushing the last of the leathery ashes from his skin and finally looking back to Jack. "A week."

Jack clapped his hands and reappeared in the office.

Daniel put his feet up on the couch, shielding his tired eyes with his forearm as he reclined.

--


	5. Homecoming

**If you read parts 1-5 before June 8, 2008, please go back and have a re-read. I explain more about how the newly infected are ranked and it might come into play later. Thanks! Oh, and have a look at the Poll I posted on my profile. It will effect part 7.**

--

Part 5: Homecoming

--

Jack was sanding in Mayborne's office, ranting at the man about how cruel he was being. "...And I just _hope_ you end up in an even _hotter_ place one day for everything you've done." He finally took a breath.

"Our hands are tied, Jack," Mayborne said a little too cheerfully. "Daniel is the only infected person we currently have access to."

"That's bull. You have Carter, but if I can help it you won't be keeping either of them."

Mayborne kept smiling. "You wouldn't be suggesting that we purposely infect _another_ person just to get Dr. Jackson and the Captain off the hook, would you?"

"Of course not," Jack said. "But doesn't most of your research require blood _samples_, not actually an on-site guinea-pig?"

Mayborne paused. "We're exploring several different facets at once. Their presence makes this easier."

"Where's Carter?"

Mayborne didn't answer.

This time Jack smiled. "I have a feeling I'm about to make your job a _whole_ lot harder."

--

"I'm not exactly going to say that's crazy, Colonel, but I'd still like to know what you're thinking," Hammond said from the chair behind the briefing table.

Dr. Fraiser, Dr. Bill Lee, Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds, and Teal'c had all been summoned to the briefing room to hear what Jack's thoughts were on Daniel's condition. Major Paul Davis had also come to the SGC to report on the President's position. They already received the initial briefing when O'Neill returned from his trip four days ago, but now that his report had been review by the President and General Hammond, it was time for them to decide what would happen next.

"I'm thinking Daniel first, and Carter when we wear them down."

Hammond continued to stare at him.

"It's not like I'm proposing that he come with us on missions... at least not right away," Jack added. "But it's _Daniel_ we're talking about," he added pleadingly, almost as if that statement was all that was needed to justify his proposal. "And you didn't see the conditions they had him in."

Hammond pulled a paper to the top of the stack. "'...A fully furnished replica of the apartment Daniel was renting off-base,'" he read from Jack's report. He raised his eyebrows.

"I guess when you put it that way..." Jack said with a sneer.

"With respect, General, I have to agree with Colonel O'Neill," Dr. Lee said. "Since I'm here, presumably, to tell you my opinions as a scientist, their methods are erratic, at best. If they keep this up, I'd be surprised if they could come up with any effective treatment even with _years_ to study the parasite."

"I agree as well," Dr Fraiser said. "With all of the information Daniel was given by Breck, it stands to reason that they would probably need limited access to Daniel, himself, in order to study the behavior of the parasite. Ideally, Daniel _would_ be present, but if his mental state really is being pushed to the brink, I don't see a reason why the Colonel's idea of confining him to _this_ base wouldn't be a viable option."

"Computer models can be created to mimic the observed behaviors of the parasite," Dr. Lee continued.

Dr Fraiser nodded. "The key to a cure seems to be in finding a way to kill this parasite without causing toxicity of the blood or the combustion of the parasites themselves."

"It's not your job to analyze the life forms and weaponry found off-world in the long-term," Davis reminded. "We leave that to bases like Area 51. However, the President is willing to transfer Dr. Jackson to your custody if you can guarantee the safety of this planet."

"Again: _Daniel_," Jack stated simply.

"And _again _I need to remind you of the security breeches you had when he was on this base," Davis continued.

"What would happen if Jackson disagreed with the General's orders again?" Reynolds asked rhetorically. "Would he use his super powers to run off to another planet? Or would he use them to leave this base and try to survive on Earth, undoubtedly infecting people along the way?"

"Something SG-1 almost allowed just over a month ago," Hammond added with a thoughtful nod.

"From Jack's report, I'd say there isn't much of a chance of anything like that happening again unless he attempts to return to Breck's world for more answers about his condition," Dr. Fraiser answered. "He seems so desperate to get away from the NID that he'd probably follow any rules we put into place."

"And think of the money they'll save," Jack added. "They won't need a bunch of empty levels at some facility in a desert. Now they can have some small, normal setup in a lab. If they need samples of his blood, we'll air-mail it to them every couple weeks."

Hammond looked down at the papers in front of him, considering the proposal.

Jack sighed. "The bottom line, General, is that Daniel actually _said_ he was going to let those security lights burn him to death. He'd rather _die_ than stay there the rest of his life. He gave me a week and if we don't save him, there's a pretty good chance he won't survive."

Everyone was quiet for a moment.

"And then there's Carter to think about," Jack continued. His eyes shifted to Major Davis. "What did the President decide about that?"

Davis hesitated for a moment. "The NID aren't willing to disclose her location, so the President felt his opinion was irrelevant."

"If anything happened to Dr. Jackson, including our removing him from their custody," Dr. Lee began in a small voice, "I wouldn't put it past the NID to use the blood samples they've already taken to infect one of their own personnel just so they have someone else to observe."

Hammond thought another moment. "Given the NID's reputation, is there any chance that they already have used the samples to infect another person?"

"I was wondering that, too, but it's hard to tell if they'd take that kind of risk," Dr. Fraiser answered. "They'd obviously injected at least one Jaffa with some of Daniel's blood in order to know that they can't be infected, but since every individual develops different abilities as a result of infection, it's just as probable that they'd be curious to study a new infection."

"If I can get Daniel close enough to Mayborne, we can see what those guys have really been up to in their labs," Jack said. "And maybe where Carter is."

The room was silent for a few moments, and then Hammond nodded a little. "You have permission to escort Dr. Jackson back to this base." He looked around the table. "All we need to do is figure out how we'll keep Daniel from being sedated on the way back here and then I'll begin making the arrangements."

--

Daniel was sitting on his couch, reading one of the new books he'd been rewarded with for his exemplary behavior during the last few research sessions. He'd lost track of how many days had passed since Jack left, but he guessed Jack should be reporting back to him soon... Unless Jack wasn't coming back.

A door slammed in the distance.

Daniel looked up, tilting his head a little to find the source. Whoever was coming was wearing one of the blinking devices that muffled his ability to read minds. During his stay he'd learned to get past the devices well enough to read stray thoughts, so as far as he knew the day's tests should be done. It sounded as if several people were walking down the hall from the door to the right of his room. The only people who had ever come down that hallway were the scientists who would ask him to zap something with his hands or recite some complex equation from the mind of one of the naive lab technicians they'd just brought in for the day.

One of the security doors halfway down that hallway buzzed, clicked, and slammed shut again.

The door opened outside his room, and the motion sensors were triggered.

Diving off the couch to avoid the light, he stood and pressed himself against a bookshelf to remain in the small amount of shade.

"Come on!" Jack shouted towards one of the cameras as he and the group continued to walk. "You think he'd blow his _only_ ticket out of here by trying to escape or hurt someone _now_?"

The doors outside of his fake apartment slid open automatically.

"Jack?" Daniel asked towards the doors, squinting a little as he turned as much as he could towards the light.

The UV security lights shut off.

"Thank you!" Jack said to the cameras, still as irritably as he had ordered the lights off. He turned back to the door. "Yep, it's just me... And a bunch of your favorite armed guards and people in lab coats." He laughed a little. "I was about to say _doctors _but with the way they run this place I doubt a single one of them ever agreed to _do no harm_."

Daniel stepped out of the shade to face the open door, happy to see his friend for the first time, face-to-face, in nearly two months.

There were four armed guards, two with readied automatic weapons and two with holstered hand guns, and two women in lab coats.

As soon as he was in sight, the four guards all paused and aimed their weapons.

Daniel raised his hands a little and backed away from the entering group. Jack was the only friendly face, so he knew it was best not to startle them.

"So, what have you been up to?" Jack asked casually.

"More of the same," Daniel said casually, lowering his hands to his sides but still keeping his distance. Daniel noticed a small sound coming from Jack. It was much fainter than the other noises he'd been picking up from the other people at the base. _Danny? Can you hear me?_ _Testing... You there?_

_Yes?_ Daniel's voice replied quietly inside Jack's head, much more softly than he remembered hearing it before.

Daniel heard Jack's mind race through the vague plan he and the General had come up with: fake Daniel being drugged and have him listen to everything in the minds of the people on the base in an attempt to learn how their research was actually progressing, and possibly where Sam Carter was being kept.

_Those things with the blinking lights keep me from hearing very much_ Daniel's voice whispered _but I'll do my best_.

"Oh, did I mention? I have some good news," Jack said casually. "You're coming back to the SGC as long as you agree to follow Hammond's orders."

Daniel nodded a little and smiled, doing his best to let the other people think it was the first he'd heard it. "Of course." He glanced at the guards with a momentarily vicious expression. "I'll do whatever he says."

The guards readjusted the grips on their weapons. Despite their years of combat experience, the pair had guarded him several times during his sessions with the lab technicians. Knowing exactly what he was capable of, they were both jarred by his single glance.

"Anything from Breck?" Daniel asked, still hearing Jack's silent dialogue.

"Nope." He put his hands in his pockets. "We got a few unidentified calls, but all we got was static."

The blonde woman in the lab coat took a few supplies out of her pocket: a vile of clear liquid and a needle.

"They tell you anything about Sam?" Daniel continued.

"Nope," he said again. "I was hoping you might have _heard_ something."

"Give me your arm, and then don't move," the woman ordered, the guards keeping Daniel in their sights.

Daniel relaxed, extending his arm to the nurse.

She took his arm and ungracefully jabbed in the needle.

Daniel flinched a little, concentrating on letting the liquid in the needle drip right through his arm. The best he could hope for is that none of the guards would notice a few drops of sparkling liquid as it fell to the floor... He listened hard for any signs of panic in the minds of the guards as the needle emptied, and it seemed, thankfully, that the people in the room were more fascinated by his teeth and claws than they were with the bottom of his arm.

The nurse pulled the empty needle out and returned quickly to where she had been standing when they entered the room.

_I hope we made it strong enough _ Daniel heard from the one who'd given him the shot. Daniel realized it was time to start acting. He wobbled a little, and put his hand to his head. He sat down carefully, as if it were a chore.

"What was actually in that needle?" Jack asked, sincerely not having been told about the chemicals his friend might be exposed to.

Daniel laid down on his back, looking up at the lights above him.

The red-headed woman in the lab coat answered, "A combination of NMDA receptor antagonists and alpha2-adrenergic antagonists."

Jack raised his eyebrows, "You don't say?"

"Mostly ketamine and detomidine," the blonde clarified dully, her eyes still fixed on Daniel's reaction to the drug.

That was all Daniel needed in order for the two women to unknowingly reveal what the drug was supposed to be doing to him. His eyes fixed on the ceiling, his gaze became distant and his blinking pattern less regular.

The blonde glanced over at Jack, who seemed to be considering if he'd ever heard of any of those chemicals before. She rolled her eyes as she turned back to look at Daniel. "_Strong animal sedatives_," she said very slowly, almost as if she were talking to a child.

"So… he'll be fine when we get him back to the SGC?" Jack asked.

"We'll have to give him another dose in transit, but with the physiology of the parasite we're fairly certain that there won't be any lasting effects," the red-head explained.

Jack scoffed at the low regard they still seemed to have about Daniel's well-being. "I'm sure he'll appreciate that you were _fairly certain_."

Daniel let his jaw relax a little, his eyes still unfocused. He was finding it surprisingly taxing to impersonate someone under sedation, although he had to admit it was the most relaxed he'd been in weeks.

After another minute of silence and observation the red head finally spoke again, "Take him."

The two guards with hand guns approached Daniel, each grabbing him under the arm and pulling him to his feet.

Daniel kept his unfocused expression and allowed his head to keep bobbing as they dragged him towards the door. _Still with me?_ Jack's voice called out.

_Yes, I'm fine_ Daniel replied. Jack sighed as Daniel was dragged past him.

Now that they were apparently fooled it was time for him to start looking for answers.

_Mayborne's not on the base_ Daniel reported to Jack before they even reached the doors outside his room. Jack trailed behind the guards with the two women.

_Figures_ Jack thought. _If you find out exactly where Carter is, let me know, otherwise let's maintain in-head silence. This stuff is just creeping me out._

_Welcome to my life_, the words ringing in Jack's ears as he realized how strange and awful Daniel's life must have been lately.

One of the armed guards lowered his weapon long enough to open the door, and the whole group trailed through.

--

The truck passed through the Cheyenne Mountain gates and stopped just outside the elevator.

Daniel had spent the last seven hours pretending to either unconscious or heavily drugged. His task had in some ways been simpler in the truck than on his way out of the compound. When they laid him on the cold metal table that was bolted to the floor of the truck, they strapped down his arms, legs, and forehead. All he had to do was stare distantly or close his eyes for a long time. He ventured a guess that it might be acceptable for him to stop trying so hard and just look like he was tied down in the truck waiting for them to arrive. Jack had ridden with him the whole way, as had the same four guards and the young blonde woman with the white coat.

Up until passing by the guards on the way into the mountain, every person he'd been within thirty feet of had been wearing one of the NID's special devices, even all the pilots and ground crew who'd transported them as far as Colorado Springs. As the SGC guards approached the back of the vehicle, Daniel realized how much effort he'd really been putting into getting past those little machines. Every one of the guards' stray thoughts was coming to him like headphones were strapped over his ears. He blinked a few times, doing all he could to shut out the sounds.

"About damned time," Jack said, standing up as the back of the truck opened. He stretched and cracked his back.

"We got here _just_ in time. It seems to be waking up," the blonde woman reported a hint of nerves in her voice. She dug into her pocket. "I think I have a little more of the sedative in..."

"Don't bother," Jack interrupted. "Our people can take it from here. You guys can just crawl back under your rock and we'll send you a postcard... maybe... some day. And don't even start with that _it_ crap again."

The guards laughed a little, relieved to be free of their charge so they could be assigned to more interesting duties.

"Just unstrap him and me and the airmen can get him down to Dr. Fraiser," Jack finished.

The blonde seemed to be the only one to take offense. "Fine. It'll be your funeral when _it_ wakes up hungry, and yours is the shoulder it's leaning on," she snapped, folding her arms and leaning back.

Jack rolled his eyes, "Say it with me: _Daniel_." He gestured with his hands as if he were conducting the words, "_Dan-iel_." He furrowed his brow when none of them reacted. "_He's_ a person."

The guards and the woman all tried to hide their chuckles.

Still fuming, Jack went back to the table. He unlatched the tight straps and pulled them off of his friend.

Daniel sat up slowly, rubbing a spot on his arm when the strap had almost been cutting off his circulation during the ride. He'd been laying on his back so long that he was actually a little stiff.

The NID guards put their hands on the weapons that were resting on their laps and the blonde made a disgusted expression, her arms still folded in defiance.

This time Jack laughed a little. "If you don't mind, I think Danny and I would like to get out of here." He gestured to the guns.

The guards let go of their weapons, really hoping that this Colonel was right about this _creature_.

Daniel put his feet squarely on the floor of the truck, and followed Jack out. He stumbled a little as he landed on the concrete. He hadn't actually been drugged, but he was feeling a little dizzy. He caught the truck's bumper for balance. His eyes shifted to the opening of the mountain. It had been weeks since he'd had the chance to see daylight, as it were, and his stinging eyes reminded him it may be quite a while before he sees it again.

Jack stopped and put his hand on Daniel's shoulder to help him balance. "You ok?"

Daniel nodded a little, focusing again on heading underground. He was exhausted, and very ready for a transfusion. Telepathy aside, being around so many normal, un-shielded people was putting him on edge.

Jack turned back to the open truck and pulled the blinking device from around his neck, throwing it to the nearest NID guard. He looked to one of the two SGC guards. "The two duffel bags in the back: the black one can head to Dr. Jackson's office and the green one to his quarters... then kick these creeps out."

The guard nodded with a little smile and went into the truck for the bags.

Jack led them to the elevator. "Can you believe those guys?"

The doors opened and they stepped inside.

"I got used to it," Daniel admitted.

"Well, you better get _un_-used-to-it from now on." Jack pressed one of the buttons. "We'll check in with Fraiser, get you a little rested up, and then you can tell us what you found out."

--

Intermarry

Daniel was laying on one of the medical beds with a needle in his arm and his eyes shut. Most of the lights were off and he was the only patient. Two armed guards stood at the entrance. He'd already had one transfusion, but he was feeling so strange that he had been allowed another. At the moment he was still trying to make sense of all the information he'd gathered during his transport.

Dr. Fraiser came to Daniel's bed to check on him. She took a breath to speak when he started talking.

"It's probably just being around people again," he said, his eyes still shut. "For 23 hours a day I was by myself. During the testing, everyone near me was wearing one of those devices. Now there are dozens of people all around me, floors and floors of people," he said almost sadly, his eyes scanning the ceiling as he heard the distant footsteps of the people above and below him.

"Well, the NID wasn't willing to share that technology with us," Dr Fraiser said simply. "Aside from being around too many people, are you feeling a little better?"

He opened his eyes. "I'm not sure if it was a good idea for me to be brought back here. Hindsight being 20-20, as they say. Maybe I should have just cooperated with them."

"Of course it was a good idea," she said off-handedly, looking at a clipboard. "Why wouldn't it be?"

Daniel smiled a little. "Because I'm not safe to be around."

"General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill both think otherwise," she looked up from the clipboard and sat it down on the table. "And so do I."

Daniel gave a snorting laugh, rubbing his eyes before putting his hands back to the bed. "Letting me be here is like opening a cage at the zoo and dangling raw meat in front of the animal."

"You're not an animal." She gave a sharp sigh of disapproval but tried to stay level-headed. "If you don't mind, I'd like to setup a regular appointment for you with a friend of mine," Dr. Fraiser said. "He's a psychologist, but..."

He started to argue.

She put her finger up. "No. I know you haven't had a lot of luck with therapists in the past, but I think you may need someone to talk to about what you went through at the NID's facility."

"What's the point of making me feel better?" Daniel said suddenly. "At this point I don't _belong_ anywhere. That's the truth, so why should I pretend anyone can be safe if I'm _here_."

She sat down in the chair beside him. "You _belong _ here, and we _are_ safer with you around." Janet smiled to lighten the conversation, "Imagine if we had another foothold situation? Don't you think you could come in handy then?"

Daniel didn't look entirely convinced.

Dr. Fraiser continued seriously, and a little more cautiously. "I read the Colonel's report. They treated you like you weren't a person. You've had to deal with that for almost two months."

Daniel nodded a little. He hesitated before speaking, but decided he may as well tell her. "They didn't just _treat_ me like I wasn't human. All of the guards, and even the doctors, had no doubt in their minds that I couldn't be trusted."

"And you didn't disserve that."

"But I did," Daniel said with the first true sign of passion. "After what happened with the Jaffa when Jack was there, I realized _they were right_."

"Daniel?" she whispered in disbelief. She wasn't sure how to argue his point. He _had_ acted irrationally, but it had been the only case she'd heard of with him truly causing any injury to another person.

"It wouldn't have mattered who was down there with me," Daniel continued. "If it had been a human, I'd have infected them. The Jaffa was already dying, but that's no excuse." He sighed, hearing several frustrated thoughts from Janet. "You're right that they were doing it to me on purpose, trying to make me lose confidence in myself."

Janet was a little surprised. It had been a brief thought, passing as quickly as it had come.

"But that doesn't mean they are completely wrong," Daniel said. "If there wasn't a grain of truth in what they tell their prisoners, why would any of them believe the NID? They wanted me to embrace what happened to me and forget who I was."

"And what do _these_ guards think of you?" Janet said suddenly, nodding towards the door, but still watching Daniel. "The ones who will be living and working alongside you, not just meeting with you for an hour a day when you're performing tricks at gunpoint."

"It doesn't matter," Daniel said quickly.

"Yes, it does. _What do these guards think of you?_"

Daniel sighed, his eyes shifting to the airmen by the door. One was a man named Hawes, whom Daniel hadn't had much contact with in the past. The other was a woman named Stevens. She had been at the base for just over a year, and backed up SG1 on a few missions when other off-world teams weren't available. They were both standing just outside of earshot, and neither had heard what he and Janet were discussing.

"Well?"

"Everyone in security has read Jack's report. Hawes was told that my behavior can be a little erratic, but that I was still a vital member of the SGC."

"Anything else...?" Janet prompted.

"Since he didn't know much about me, he dug a little deeper into my files. He believes that I'm just a good person with a medical problem."

"What about Sergeant Stevens?"

Daniel sighed. "Basically the same. She knew me before, and was in the gate room when I escaped to see Breck. She knows that I could hurt people if I wanted to, but doesn't think that I will." His eyes turned back to the ceiling.

Janet smiled a little. "The people on this base know you. Everyone who knew you before you were taken by the NID still thinks you're worth having on this base."

There were several seconds of silence before he answered, still sounding a little distant. "I know you just want to help me," he said simply. "I also know you believe what you're saying." He licked his lips, considering how to explain. "I attacked the Jaffa. I couldn't stop myself no matter how much I would have liked to. I'm concerned that there will come a time when it happens again."

Janet put her hand on his arm instinctively, but casually removed it before he could argue about her safety. "Your illness went untreated for five days. As long as you're here, I'll make sure that never happens."

Daniel nodded a little. "I know you'll do your best." He pulled the needle from his arm, and glanced over at the guards by the door before looking back to Janet. "I should probably give the briefing."

--


	6. Voodoo

**If you read parts 1-5 before June 8, 2008, please go back and have a re-read. I explain more about how the newly infected are ranked and it might come into play later. Thanks! Oh, and have a look at the Poll I posted on my profile. It will effect part 7.**

--

part 6: That Voodoo You Do

--

Briefing room

Dr. Fraiser, Dr. Lee, Major Davis, Teal'c, Colonel O'Neill, General Hammond, and Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds had all been summoned to the briefing. Stevens and Hawes had accompanied Daniel and Dr. Fraiser from the infirmary and were standing near the staircase to continue guarding him.

"Since I've gotten the impression that my _observations_ weren't supposed to go on the record, I haven't actually printed up a report," Daniel explained from the front of the room.

Hammond nodded. "_Officially_ we're just _speculating_ on the status of one of our reassigned soldiers."

"And these _speculations_ can be passed onto the President for his _unofficial_ recommendation," Davis continued.

"Yes, Daniel, so let's begin_ speculating_," Jack said.

Daniel sighed. "They have her on another NID base. It's somewhere in Greenland."

"The frozen one?" Jack asked quickly.

Daniel nodded. "Mayborne thought there was a chance that I'd be able to hear what people were thinking even if I was sedated, so he ordered the top-level scientists out before Jack got there."

"But none of the lower level scientists knew that was why their bosses left?" Reynolds asked.

"Most of them knew the base was being shut down and assumed that their bosses were sticking them with the grunt work of clearing out the place." Daniel held up his finger. "But some of the ones left behind had consulted Sam's records during their research on me. They decided to keep the terminology of level 1, 2, and 3, and they've ranked Sam as a level 2."

"Levels?" Reynolds asked.

"Level of parasite infection," Dr. Fraiser answered. "According to the translations Daniel brought back with him today, the people of Breck's planet established a ranking system, and the first part of their overall rank is given as a level. Level 1s look and feel completely human most of the time and display only weak abilities. When they chose to fully use their abilities, or when they need a meal, their appearance becomes more like Daniel's. They can be dangerous when they transform because they aren't used to resisting the effects of the parasite. Level threes are the other extreme cases of infection. They look quite a bit less like other humans, usually bald with unusual eye pigment and more prominent skeletal features, and require a greater volume of blood to keep from acting impulsively." She turned back to Daniel a little shyly. "According to the more colorful papers, it is said to be very hard for level 3s to be in the same room with a person without attacking them."

"So Level 2s are like Dr. Jackson?" Davis asked, his eyes shifting to Daniel.

Janet nodded. "Physically, those with a level 2 infection look slightly different from people who haven't been infected, but, when provided with regular meals, are behaviorally more able to control the parasite's influences after becoming acclimated to the infection."

"Before we discuss Captain Carter," General Hammond began to Daniel, "tell us what you learned about their research on the parasite."

Daniel nodded. "They haven't been working on a cure. Some of the scientists who were still on the base had a few theories, but they weren't in a position to work on them."

"Can you type up those theories for me?" Dr. Fraiser asked. The men around the table looked ready to remind her that they weren't supposed to pursue that sort of research at the SGC, so she explained her reasoning. "Consider it a side project."

Hammond nodded a little.

"Thank you, Sir," she said, looking back to Daniel.

"Do you know if they've infected anyone else with the parasite?" Dr Lee asked. "We discussed it a few days ago, but we couldn't decide if they'd try it or not."

Daniel shook his head. "As of this morning, noone left at the base knew anything about another person being infected, but they do plan on doing it pretty soon."

The table was silent.

"I already started to tell Janet, but before they were going to risk infecting another person, they wanted to make me believe that I was a _thing_. Once they convinced me that I didn't need to act like a person, they were going to use me as their own operative."

"Brainwashing?" Jack asked soberly. It had never occurred to him, but now it made sense why they'd bother treating him like he was less than human for such a long time.

Daniel nodded. "They were doing it slowly because they still wanted to study my abilities. When Jack got there and called them on it, they decided I probably wasn't going to fall for the same methods again. I'm pretty sure that's why they didn't care if Jack took me back here; they couldn't _use_ me anymore. They decided a level 3 might have cooperated with them a little more."

"_Level 3_ being the kind that don't mind ripping people up?" Reynolds tried to clarify.

Daniel tried his best not to look upset, but he could tell instantly that he failed. "They're the level that can't control themselves. It has nothing to do with _minding_."

"So, what are they doing to Carter? If she's really a _level 2_ who can usually keep things in check, why do they think they can use her any more than they did Daniel?" Jack asked suddenly. He looked to Hammond. "We can cover more on these bugs when we're done talking about our people."

"True," Hammons agreed. "Are they keeping her in a facility similar to the one you were being held at? With private living space?"

Daniel looked suddenly grim. "No. It's a much smaller base. They've kept her unconscious the entire time, so they haven't needed to keep any buffer between her and the technicians."

Jack glanced at Janet, briefly thinking of her offhanded comment a few weeks earlier about how Carter or Daniel might just be strapped to a table with half of their organs missing.

"Do you know what kinds of special powers she developed?" Dr. Lee asked excitedly. From the expressions on the faces of the other people at the table he realized he might have been a little over eager. "Sorry," he said a little more calmly.

Daniel shook his head a little. "Not exactly. I know what parts of the reports said, but not enough to really know what she can do. They claim to be keeping her in a coma because they've decided that her abilities are too much of a threat."

This made everyone at the table, except for Jack and Hammond, shift in their seats.

Daniel sighed, turning his back to the people at the table as he was unavoidably flooded with the gruesome imaginings of the people around him, as well as their renewed concerns about Daniel's _special powers_. "I suppose even here I'm _still_ an experiment," he muttered, staring at the white board still peppered with the equations of a previous presentation. It took only a few moments for their minds to calm down as the tried to make sense of his quiet comment...

"What?" Jack asked.

Daniel turned around. "If I can live here, maybe Sam can adjust to living around here, too," he said with a little more urgency than they'd heard from him lately. He gestured towards Janet, "You and Jack both tried to give me the pep talk about being the same person I was before being infected." He laughed a little. "I know I don't need to remind any of you that my _special powers_ aren't exactly harmless."

Their minds all agreed silently.

"Their files rated my abilities as dangerous, but they kept me awake because I wasn't a soldier. And not to hurt my case, but, if I know Sam, she didn't show them everything she could do, either." He held up his hand as if he were holding something. An arch of electricity jumped between his fingers. As he concentrated several more arches jumped around. The lights in the room flickered.

Hammond stood. "Dr. Jackson!" he shouted scoldingly.

The two guards by the staircase aimed their weapons.

Daniel closed his hand into a fist and the electricity dissipated as if there hadn't been any problems at all.

"What were you trying to prove?" Hammond demanded crossly.

"I don't _want_ to hurt anyone, but I _am_ dangerous," he said calmly. "Whatever they think Sam can do, she can probably do a lot more. In the hands of the NID I _did_ hurt someone. It will probably happen to Sam, too."

"The Jaffa?" Davis asked dispassionately.

Teal'c stared at Davis with an almost annoyed expression.

"He was just a person," Daniel insisted, "and it had nothing to do with my abilities."

"_Really not helping your case_," Jack said.

"The point is that regardless of what Sam can do now, she's still Sam and it's only a matter of time before they wake her up and exploit her condition for their own ends," Daniel said more quickly.

General Hammond sat back down, willing to listen to the rest of Daniel's information. He looked over at the guards. "Stand down."

Hawes and Stevens nodded a little and lowered their weapons, stepping back to their positions at the staircase.

Daniel walked back to the table and poured a glass of water, taking a sip and finally sitting down. "Yes, water," he said before taking another sip. Some people at the table hadn't remembered that he did, in fact, still need to drink water.

There was silence for several seconds.

"Is there anything else, Doctor?" the General asked.

Daniel set down his glass, remaining seated. "I've actually saved the worst for last."

"Great," Jack said sarcastically.

"The only reason these handful of people were looking into Sam while researching me was that they needed an excuse to look at her file." He sighed. "There were at least five of them, and they're all part of a rogue faction of the NID."

The people around the table were speechless.

"So the rogue group is trying to gather intel on both you _and_ Carter?" Jack verified. "Why?"

"They wanted to smuggle a sample of my blood to their own group's location, infect one of their own people, and pursue their own research." He sighed and spoke more quickly. "That or kidnap me or Sam and end up with an endless, free supply at no cost to their group's manpower."

Noone said a word.

Daniel couldn't hear a single coherent thought from anyone in the room until they unified in their concern for Sam's safety. One voice came through a little more clearly than the others. He turned to Reynolds. "No, I'm not lying to help Sam."

Reynolds shifted in his seat, but he spoke confidently as he reminded himself that he was talking to the meek Dr. Jackson. "It just seems a little convenient that you would leave that sort of news to the end, after you've had a chance to _read our minds_ and hear what decision we'd make with the information you've given us."

"There was a lot of information, to cover," Daniel said patiently. "And a lot more information that wasn't as vital to this briefing." He looked at the General. "Would you like for me to type up _everything_ I experienced while I was there and on the way out?"

The General hesitated, but decided on an answer. "A single copy, saved on a personal storage device, and for my eyes only." His eyes roamed around the table. "I'll share relevant information as needed."

Everyone at the table agreed, but Reynolds's suspicion led Davis to momentarily doubt that Dr. Jackson would be completely honest.

Daniel wanted to change the topic. Once he typed it up, noone would be able to claim that he was inventing new information. "Jack said the gate has been dialing in but there's only static. So that means there's a signal coming through?"

"Yes, there is some kind of signal," Dr. Lee said. "We think it's some kind of encoded message, but we have no idea who it's from or what they're trying to say."

"But you've dialed Breck's planet since then?"

"Several times. The wormhole doesn't engage," Dr. Lee replied.

"Can I hear a copy of the transmission?"

Dr. Lee looked at General Hammond for permission.

The General nodded. "Of course."

Dr. Lee smiled at Daniel. "Come down to my lab sometime and I'll fill you in on what we have so far."

The gate behind the General lit up.

General Hammond stood. "I'd like everyone to consider the facts brought to our attention, and following Daniel's written..."

The wormhole engaged.

"Unscheduled off-world activation," Technician Harriman announced over the intercom as the iris closed.

The General calmly walked towards the staircase, followed by everyone else who'd attended the briefing. Daniel followed last but was blocked by Hawes and Stevens at the top of the stairs.

"Sorry, Doctor, but we have orders to keep you out of certain areas of the base," Hawes explained.

Daniel nodded. "I understand," he said, listening as the footsteps trailed off of the staircase and towards the glass window near the controls.

"We can take you back to your quarters if you'd like," Stevens offered. "Or to your office?"

Daniel was concentrating on the conversation in the control room.

Harriman was the only one talking so far, "I'm not receiving any I.D.C., but there is a signal coming through. Playing the audio now."

"Excuse me," Daniel said to his guards apologetically. He took a breath and felt the floor vanish from beneath him. He fell straight through the concrete and landed hard, but on both feet, directly below where he had been standing.

Everyone in the room was already a little jumpy from the alert, so when Daniel, looking pale and a little unkempt, seemed to jump in out of nowhere, several of the technicians gasped, dropped things, and let out squeals of fright.

The computer began to broadcast a combination of static, clicking, and whistles.

"Sorry," Daniel called to the room, gesturing humbly to calm those around him as he waded through the crowd to join the General. "Is this what's happened before?"

Hawes and Stevens charged down the staircase.

Hammond turned back to them casually. "Stand down, Airmen."

"Yes, the transmission is coming through at the same frequency as the others," Dr. Lee said as he took Harriman's chair and typed a few things into the computer.

"You can't hear that?" Daniel asked quietly, listening to the sounds.

The wormhole shut down.

"It _is_ from Breck's planet," Daniel said more confidently.

"Do you know what they're trying to tell us?" Dr. Fraiser asked.

"The background noise was a lot like the broadcasts I listened to on Breck's television," he said simply. "Well, it was _pretty much_ a television. We just need the right kind of hookup to play it."

"But the computers couldn't..." Dr. Lee started to explain.

"Then we'll need some of their technology," Daniel said simply.

Dr. Lee was a little baffled. "B-But we don't have any of their technology."

Daniel thought a moment. "The books Breck gave me," he started slowly. "The NID wasn't interested in the ones about simple conveniences, like their communication devices and the cooking appliances used by the humans, so they copied the information and left the books with me."

"So I take it there was a section on how to build an alien television?" Jack offered.

"Something like that," Daniel agreed. He'd been so distracted by the excitement of the gate activation that he hadn't noticed how many regular people were crammed so tightly around him. He looked around a little before his eyes fell of Sergeant Silar and then back to Dr Lee. "If you and Silar wouldn't mind giving me a hand, I can probably build the receiver in a few hours."

"Of course," Dr. Lee said excitedly, but turned back to the General. "With your permission?"

"Whatever you need," the general said.

Daniel, followed by Sgt. Silar and Dr. Lee, headed out of the room. Hawes and Stevens hesitated until Daniel turned back to them, still walking backwards, "You can come too, if you really need to." They followed.

--

Dr. Lee's Lab

Dr. Lee and Silar were sitting at the table across from Daniel, sipping coffee. They'd already been there over an hour.

"You're sure you don't actually need us to do anything, Sir?" Sgt. Silar asked nervously. He wasn't used to being told to stay in one place for so long unless it was for some sort of dangerous experiment.

"Nope," Daniel said simply, soldering some wires together. With the a mechanical expertise of Dr. Lee and the practical electrical skills of Silar so close by, Daniel could easily draw the bits and pieces he needed in order to interpret the schematics. Normally he would employ them both, translating words here and there while they did all the work. This time, with way the books had been written, he realized that things would move more quickly if they were done by someone fluent in the written language and at least vaguely familiar with the way they visually depict things.

"So we just sit here while you read our minds?" Dr Lee clarified for at least the fourth time.

"More or less," Daniel replied, still concentrating on connecting the last wire of that section.

"That is so... _cool_," Dr. Lee said with a chuckle, still very excited.

Done. Daniel looked up with a heavy sigh as he put down the tools. He rubbed his eyes, then looked up at Silar. "Do you think your guys are almost done carving up that piece of glass?"

Silar nodded. "Couldn't you just...?" he gestured towards his head.

"Sure I could have." Daniel smiled a little, stretching his arms. "I needed a break so I thought I'd just ask."

"Oh, well, S-Sir, I could go down and s-see," Silar offered even more nervously.

Daniel knew from the moment he asked for Silar that the Sergeant wasn't very excited about working with him. "Go ahead," he said calmly. "Once I hook up the glass, it'll be all done."

"Thank you, Sir." Silar left the room quickly.

Dr. Lee smiled. "I haven't gotten a chance to tell you, but that light show back in the briefing room was really amazing."

Daniel smiled a little. The Doctor was completely convinced that it was _the coolest thing_ _he'd ever seen_ and Daniel wasn't sure he could convince him otherwise.

"How did you figure out you could do that?" Dr. Lee asked. "I mean, without the NID finding out. The report from Colonel O'Neill made it sound like they monitored every move you made."

Dr. Lee had literally been waiting all that time since the briefing to ask Daniel that, so Daniel hadn't been too surprised by the question. "Initially, all I knew was that I was holding back during the testing. I wanted them to underestimate me, so when I really tried to get away they wouldn't know what I could do."

Dr. Lee grabbed his coffee, taking a sip, but so enthralled by the story that a little of the coffee dribbled down his chin. He hastily wiped his mouth with a nervous smile.

"I knocked out the base power, and the cameras, twice while I was there. The first time I really just needed to know how long it would be before their backup generators turned on."

"So that's when you figured out that trick?"

Daniel held his tongue rather than begin a debate over the term _trick_ in that context. "I didn't want them to boost security too much by making it as far out of the base as I really could so when I was waiting for the guards to get a little closer I just sort of..." Daniel shrugged, "figured it out."

Dr. Lee laughed. "That is just so _amazing_!" He leaned in a little closer and spoke more quietly. "So would you say that you are generating that electricity, or gathering it from some source around you?"

Daniel leaned back in his chair. He'd never realized before, but Dr. Lee had a habit of leaning closer when he ran a new theory by someone, or asked possibly inappropriate questions. It wasn't hard for him to tell that no matter which way he answered that question it would bring Dr. Lee to ask if it was alright to _take some readings_.

Sgt. Silar walked into the room at that very moment, carrying the specially carved piece of glass his crew had been employed to create.

"I'm glad you're back," Daniel told Silar immediately. He stood and took the glass from the Sergeant. "It'll just be a few minutes."

--

General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill joined Dr. Lee and Daniel in Dr. Lee's office.

"I've setup the computer to run the messages one after another," Dr Lee explained. "And Daniel was kind enough to hook this into the computer." He gestured towards the device.

"Go ahead," the General said.

Dr. Lee hit one of the keys on the keyboard, and the glass screen began to glow with a peachy-brown light. A second later, Breck's face appeared with a gray-white background.

"I'm not sure you'll be able to translate this message, but the radio you gave me was damaged during the conflict," Breck explained. "Hopefully Daniel has read through my books carefully enough and recognizes the requirements."

"You see? It would have been so much easier if Daniel could have just stayed here from the start," Jack said quickly during Breck's pause.

"It turns out that the gate was damaged that night as well," Breck continued. "Our scientists, with the details I gathered from Sam, believe that we can't receive incoming wormholes. If I knew I could return home, I would gladly use my abilities to come through myself and discuss a mutual exchange of technology." He leaned forward and looked as if he was typing a few things into a device near the recording lens. "I'm giving you another schematic so you can build something like your _video cameras_."

As promised, the plans for another device came up clearly on the glass monitor.

Breck's voice spoke over the schematics. "Once we can communicate, I'd be happy to tell you more about what has happened since last we met, and I am curious if your scientists might have any thoughts on incapacitating the parasite. I will dial you again, and I hope that you are able to reply."

The image disappeared, shut off for a second, then turned back on, showing the same tan light before Breck appeared with the gray background. "Hello? Are you able to reply to my transmission?" He paused a moment. "We are not receiving any signal, so I suppose you have not been able to identify this signal." He sighed.

"How many transmissions have there been?" Daniel asked.

"Today was the third," Dr. Lee replied as Breck began again.

"Perhaps my next transmission will be more successful. Be well." Breck's image disappeared.

The screen turned off, then on again. Breck appeared, just as they had before.

"We're still not receiving a signal from your end," he reported. He smiled a little. "I guess you have not been able to interpret our signal, and I am consequently speaking to noone." He sighed and became serious again. "It has been two months since we met, and I am eager to hear from you." Breck leaned forward and pressed the buttons again, bringing the schematic of the transmitter up again. "Perhaps the last plans were not as detailed as they should have been."

Daniel scanned this schematic compared to the one a few minutes ago. "This is a little clearer," he confessed. "It should be a little easier to make than this was."

Dr. Lee squinted at the screen, not being able to understand any of the symbols any more than he could understand the ones Daniel had followed. On top of that, he could see very little difference between the diagrams given in the first transmission and these.

"I will attempt contact again at a later date." Breck's image disappeared and the screen turned off, this time remaining black.

"How long between the transmissions?" Daniel asked.

"Couldn't you just...?"Jack asked quickly with a gesture towards his own head.

Daniel rolled his eyes, growing tired of the question.

Dr. Lee laughed a little, "Sgt. Silar actually asked the same thing a few..." and then saw Daniel's serious expression and stopped talking, also becoming serious. "Sorry," he said to Daniel.

"I'm getting tired," Daniel admitted boredly. "I haven't had such a busy day since our last off-world mission."

"Excuse me for asking a question," Jack said a little defensively.

General Hammond answered Daniel since it seemed that Jack wasn't willing to, and Dr. Lee had been embarrassed into silence, "It looks like it's been about 12 or 13 days between all of the transmissions."

"Since it looks like it will be a few days, do you think I can get some rest before starting on the next project?" Daniel asked him. He really had been downright lazy for the last two months, and despite the transfusions he'd received from Dr Fraiser there wasn't any substitute for sleep after such an exerting day.

"Quite understandable," General Hammond said. "You can keep whatever schedule you need to over the next few days. The infirmary knows your condition and can supply you with transfusions as needed. Typing up your report on the NID should be your top priority, but I'd still like this new device tested and working properly within a week."

Daniel nodded. "Thank you." He started for the door.

"One moment, Doctor," the General said as he glanced at the computer. "Is there any chance that Dr. Lee and Sgt. Silar can follow these designs without your assistance?"

Daniel was about to answer when the General decided to clarify his reasoning for wanting to minimize Daniel's involvement.

"If we trade technology with these people, we'll need a few more scientists who know how to read the designs," he added, gesturing to the screen.

Daniel nodded again. "I could..." he gestured towards his head "... or I could just walk him through the construction in a couple days when we start to build it."

Dr. Lee seemed excited and Daniel couldn't help but hear that his avid answer would have been the telepathy, but the General again stopped anyone else from answering.

"I think walking them through the process would be sufficient," the General answered. "For now, just try to get some rest."

--

"Unscheduled off-world activation," Harriman's voice called over the base intercom.

Daniel hadn't been asleep for long and the announcement rang in his ears as he woke-up. He could hear the people all around him scurrying here and there throughout the base, so he decided he might as well just finish typing up the report. He stood slowly, still tired, but too distracted to possibly sleep.

"Security team five report to the..." Harriman's voice continued, then the radio stopped.

Daniel didn't have any lights on in his room, but it was easy enough for him to tell what had happened. There was the distant sound of a surge of electricity, and then the base was almost completely silent. Everyone throughout the base stopped walking, talking, and moving. The only sounds Daniel could hear on the whole base was the rhythmic breathing and speedy heart-beats of the personnel as they wondered why the electricity had gone out.

Hawes knocked on his door. "Dr. Jackson?" he called.

"I'm still here. It wasn't me," he replied to the question Daniel knew he was about to ask. He headed for the door and opened it just as the emergency generators kicked on.

Stevens glanced at Daniel as she tapped her radio. "General, this is Stevens. Do you need assistance?"

There was silence.

"I think we should head down there," Daniel said. He was a little too far from the Gate Room to know exactly what was going on.

Stevens and Hawes were hesitant due to their orders.

"I'm sorry, Doctor," Stevens began. "But can you please wait until we get a report from the General?"

Daniel nodded a little. This pair had been given an almost impossible job, but since he was so grateful to be back on the base, he decided he had better do what he was told.

--


End file.
